The Financial Express : Apr 18, 2020, 09:20 PM
New Delhi: Air India bookings to open soon! National air passenger carrier Air India on their website has announced resumption in bookings for flight tickets. According to the company, bookings for some selected domestic flights will resume from May 4, 2020. It added that bookings for international flights will resume from June 1, 2020. Air India further said the company will keep reviewing the day-to-day situation of the novel Coronavirus outbreak and will keep the people updated if there is any change.The airline company had earlier announced a suspension in bookings for domestic as well as international flights. While the bookings were stopped till April 30, with the announcement of the second phase of the Coronavirus lockdown, the commencement of bookings have also been pushed till next month. According to previous notification, the bookings for flight tickets were suspended till May 3 and May 31 for domestic and international flights, respectively. The decision to halt the flight bookings came on the back of increasing numbers of people affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. India had also announced a nationwide complete lockdown from March 24 as confirmed COVID-19 cases were on a rise.Not only Air India but private airlines had also announced suspension in flight bookings in India. Also, those who had already booked flights and had to cancel their flights as a lockdown was imposed, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has directed all the airlines to refund the cost to passengers if they fulfill the given refund criteria. While the companies were earlier giving an option to reschedule their flights instead of refunds, people took to social media to lodge complaints and as a result, the Ministry issued guidelines for refund for cancellations of tickets that were booked by many before.Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted that the resumption in operations for domestic and international flights will be considered by the aviation authorities after May 3.