Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that the future of international flights is now depending on the availability of a vaccine. The minister, while answering a question on whether travel bubble arrangements will continue till March-April, said that it is difficult to say as there is no country that has completely opened its borders for all. It depends on the availability of a vaccine as countries will feel more confident once a vaccine is there.

The minister further stated that the domestic airlines will soon be allowed to increase their capacity to 75 percent. At present, the domestic airlines are operating 65 percent capacity after it resumed operations on May 25 following a gap of two months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Puri said that there is no deadline but this can happen soon as the domestic numbers are going up adding that the pre-COVID domestic number will be achieved between Diwali and New Year.