new delhi flying within the country will cost more from friday the 13th the aviation ministry late on thursday night increased both the minimum and maximum domestic airfare levels by 125 the move came along with the government allowing airlines to operate 75 more domestic flights raising their capacity deployment from 65 to 725the government had on june 1 2021 hiked domestic airfares by 15 while slashing flights within the country from 80 of precovidlevel to 50 at the height of the deadly second waveread alsogovt allows 75 more domestic flightsnew delhi the government has allowed airlines to operate marginally more 75 to be precise domestic flights airlines can now operate 725 of their precovid domestic capacity up from 65 allowed on july 5 2021 during the pandemic the aviation ministry has been regulating both domesticduring the pandemic the aviation ministry has been regulating both domestic fares and capacity with that the second wave ebbing the domestic capacity was first increased to 65 on july 5 now capacity domestic deployment and airfares have been hiked by 75 and 125 respectivelyas a result for instance delhimumbai oneway minimum fare will rise from rs 4700 to rs 52875 and the maximum fare will rise from rs 13000 to rs 14625 taxes extra this is the fourth hike in airfares this year due to spiralling jet fuel prices the biggest cost item for airlines with a majority of indian carriers struggling to survive in the absence of any fiscal support from the government during the pandemic the range is for economy oneway fares and does not include user development fee of airports passenger security fees rs 150 for domestic and gstwhen schedule domestic flights resumed after a twomonth break on may 25 2020 the government had asked airlines to start with onethird of precovid time flights and also fixed fare bands to ensure two things passengers are not fleeced and financially strong airlines do not resort to predatory below cost fares to hasten the bankruptcy of weaker ones based on flying time there are seven categories starting at flights below 40 minutes and going upto 335 hours several airlines and airport operators are asking the government to free up the sector from its pandemictime control and let market forces decide capacity and fares to help revive the sector the entire travel industry including airlines and hotels realise that their survival rests on domestic travellers as international travel could take a long time to open up both ways indian tourists being allowed in most countries and foreign tourists being allowed into india this fact is recognised by government agencies toofor instance the airports economic regulatory authoritys consultation paper on hyderabad airport hial tariff says the authority has looked into the traffic trends at hial and observes that the traffic at hyderabad airport is dominated by domestic segment about 81 of the total traffic over the last five years was domestic passengers the authority is of the opinion that postpandemic