The government on Tuesday said airlines can operate domestic flights without any capacity restrictions from October 18, with daily traffic crossing the 3-lakh mark over the weekend.

The cap had been in force on domestic flight capacity since May 2020 and currently it stands at 85 per cent.

The ministry of civil aviation announced revoking the cap “after a review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel”.

Airlines will be allowed to not just return to pre-pandemic levels but go beyond that as well depending on demand. This means that from the winter schedule — that comes into effect at the end of next month — airlines can have a full complement of domestic flights.

“After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel... it has been decided to restore the scheduled domestic air operations with effect from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction,” the government said in the official notification.

“The airlines/airport operators shall, however, ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of Covid are strictly adhered to and Covid appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during the travel,” the circular added.

The capacity cap stood at 72.5 per cent between August 12 and September 18, 65 per cent between July 5 and August 12 and 50 per cent between June 1 and July 5. On October 9, the Indian carriers operated 2,340 domestic flights, which is 71.5 per cent of their total pre-Covid capacity.

When the government resumed the scheduled domestic flights on May 25 last year after a two-month break, the ministry had allowed the carriers to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic services.

The cap was gradually increased to 80 per cent by December 2020. The 80-per cent cap remained in place till June 1 this year. The May 28 decision to bring down the cap from 80 per cent to 50 per cent from June 1 onwards was taken due to “sudden surge in the number of active Covid-19 cases across the country”, the ministry had said.

From next week, the restrictions will be relaxed and domestic flights can operate at full capacity. International flights are being operated under air bubbles.

With the government allowing foreign tourists on charters from this month and non-charters next month, airlines are wondering if the restrictions on international flights will also partially ease.