Coronavirus - SpiceJet Coach Pictures Give A Glimpse Of Air Travel Once Lockdown Ends

Large crosses with black-yellow tape, laying the ground rules for physical distancing, will greet passengers on airport buses whenever they finally they get to take to the skies at the end of the ongoing nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

In photographs from shuttle coaches and air-stairs run by low-cost carrier SpiceJet, taped crosses are seen marking seats on which passengers will not be allowed to sit.

Every alternate seat in the front and sides will be kept empty to ensure adequate gaps between people, the photos show.

Numbered markings on air-stairs, used to board a flight, will show passengers where they are allowed to stand and which steps to leave empty.

Airport shuttles will have every alternate seat marked out.

The measures are part of preparations being taken in anticipation of flights being resumed once the government gives a green light.

However, sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry and regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have told NDTV there has been no decision yet on when passenger flights will finally resume.

Passenger air traffic - domestic and international - was halted even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the 21-day countrywide curfew-like lockdown on the evening of March 14. Only cargo flights and special flights have been allowed to operate.

When passenger operations do resume, airports as well as airlines will be under severe restrictions to ensure there is no transmission of coronavirus, sources. Physical distancing has to be followed on the airport premises and in flights, which is expected to hugely push up ticket prices.

Physical distancing guides on air-stairs and airport shuttles.

Along with security checks, passengers would also be checked for fever and those running a temperature will not be allowed into the airport.

Once passengers board the aircraft, they will find middle-row seats unoccupied in order to maintain a distance between passengers.

The fact that flights will operate at 50 per cent of their capacity will mean that airlines will need to substantially hike ticket prices. Basic prices for tickets between Delhi and Mumbai could begin at Rs 8,000 to compensate airlines for having to operate at half the capacity of their aircraft.

The aviation industry has been the worst hit in the global lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic with airlines in India grounding fleets, slashing salaries of employees or sending them on mandatory sabbaticals.