Domesticflights in the country could resume before the end of lockdown 4.0. UnionAviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told ET Now that the government is readyto resume flights any day now.

"As faras the Ministry of Civil Aviation is concerned and as far as all thestakeholders in the civil aviation ecosystem including Airports Authority ofIndia, (AAI), airports in different cities, air carriers, are concerned, wehave been ready to resume domestic civil aviation now for the last one week orso," Puri said in an ET Now Webinar.

"We areabsolutely ready and we could start domestic civil aviation at any time with alittle bit of notice. Obviously, if we get the green signal today, it will taketwo or three days for the airlines to open bookings and for us to calibrate thenumber of flights we can start with," he added.

The ministerreiterated that any decision on the matter will only be taken afterdeliberation with the states.

He added thatIndia has been able to contain the spread of the virus on account of timelyaction. "We were one of the first countries to stop flights from China. Wehave screened about 15 lakh incoming passengers," Puri said.

The flightservices in the country have been shut since the last week of March when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi announced the first spell of nationwide lockdown inlight of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, 3 more spells of lockdown have beeninflicted in the country.

Coronaviruscases in the country have crossed one lakh mark. As per latest reports, Indiahas reported 106,000 COVID-19 cases along with 3,300 deaths.