Govt Allows Airlines to Operate at 65% Passenger Capacity; Shares Gain

Domestic airlines were allowed to operate at 65 percent passenger capacity on Monday by the civil aviation ministry. Interglobe Aviation and SpiceJet both saw their stock prices rise over 2% in the morning session of July 6 after the Centre approved domestic carriers operating at 65 percent passenger capacity.

The Centre upped the seating capacity from 50 percent to 65 percent on July 5, noting that the 65 percent cap on domestic aviation capacity will be in effect until July 31 or until further orders are received.

Spicejet: Quotes, News

BSE 10.280.35 (-3.40%)

NSE 31.70 (0.00%)

When the COVID-19 pandemic hindered air travel, India's Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority set a cap on domestic carriers' capacity use to help financially struggling airlines.

The ministry decided to revise the seating capacity cap after daily domestic flight travellers nearly reached 1,60,000 people and are expected to reach 1,70,000 by the end of this week.

Domestic air passenger traffic had fallen to 1,00,000 after the second wave of the pandemic, prompting the central government to reduce the capacity utilisation cap for airlines to operate from 80 percent to 50 percent beginning June 1, 2021, in order to protect the viability of airlines with weak finances.

SpiceJet was up Rs 1.25, or 1.58 percent, at Rs 81.10. It has traded between a high of Rs 82 and a low of Rs 80.80 during the day. Interglobe Aviation was up Rs 30.30, or 1.72 percent, at Rs 1,787. It reached an intraday high of Rs 1,804.10 and a low of Rs 1,763 during the trading session. Shares of Global Vectra rose 2.09% at Rs 5120 at 11.12 am IST.