India extends suspension on international flights till Sept 30 amid COVID-19, read details

The ban on scheduled international passenger flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been extended till September 30, the Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Sunday. In the circular shared on social media, DGCA said that the suspension does not affect the international all-cargo operations and flights which have been specially approved. The latest extension on the ban on international passenger flights to and from India, came after the services were initially suspended on March 23, 2020, in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

DGCA said in its circular, “In partial modification of circular date 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the subject cited above regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs IST of 30th September 2021. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.”

“However, International Scheduled flights mat be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis,” it added.

Under the Vande Bharat Mission since May 2020, special international flights have been operating under the bilateral “air bubble” arrangements with some of the countries. As of now, India has functional ‘air bubble’ arrangements with 27 actions to enable travel to foreign nations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These nations include the United States, UAE, Kenya, Bhutan and France. This air bubble arrangement allows both nations to operate special international flights, both ways.

India-Bangladesh Flights To Resume From Sept 3

Further, most recently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has announced the end of a four-month suspension on flights operating between India and Bangladesh on September 3. MoCA letter stated, “The air bubble may be resumed w.e.f. 03.09.21 till resumption of scheduled international passenger flights.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, India still has some restrictions placed in the air bubble arrangements with various nations. For instance, only a limited number of passengers are permitted in each aircraft along with adhering to strict health measures.

“Passengers travelling from Bangladesh to India shall be mandatorily subjected to self-paid confirmatory molecular tests on arrival at the Indian airports concerned (port of entry). Therefore instead of a blanket restriction of 140 passengers per aircraft it is proposed that the capacity may be restricted to a specific percentage of the installed seat capacity of the aircraft (say 90 per cent or 95 per cent)," MoCA Said.

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