Vistara Airlines’ last flight takes off from Odisha for Delhi
The last flight of Vistara Airlines from Odisha took off for Delhi on Monday night. This marked the end of the airline's operations from the state ahead of its merger with Air India.
In a major relief to those who booked air tickets for the lockdown period, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday said that the airlines will have to refund the tickets within three weeks without charging cancellation fees from the customer.
However, the cancellation is not automatic but the customers have to apply for it.
All the tickets booked for travelling on dates which fall during the lockdown period will be eligible for the free cancellation.
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The tickets booked for any date in both phases of lockdown, which is from March 25 to April 14 and April 15 to May 3, are eligible for the cancellation.
The DGCA in its order said that there were many bookings were made for a date after April 14 during the first lockdown period by those stranded at different locations.
There were complaints being made by those who booked their tickets after the airlines refused to refund the ticket amount.
As per the reports, private airlines had said that they will not refund the tickets, however, they offer free rescheduling but will charge customers for the fare difference, if any, at the time of re-booking.
All the domestic and international airlines had come to halt after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced 21-day lockdown from March 25.
PM further extended the lockdown till May 3 with strict application till April 20 and some area-wise relaxations after it, depending upon the situation in the area.
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