DGCA extends restrictions on international flight operations till January 31, 2021

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Wednesday extended the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger flights till 11.59 pm on January 31, 2021. This restriction will not apply to international cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA. As per the circular, international flights might be allowed by the competent authority on selected routes. 

For instance, India has entered into Air Bubble agreements with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Tanzania, UAE, UK, Ukraine and USA. Meanwhile, the Centre has extended the suspension of flights to/from the UK till January 7, 2021, amid concerns over the highly contagious strain of the novel coronavirus. So far, 20 persons who have returned to India from the UK have tested positive for the new variant of COVID-19. 

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Impact of COVID-19 crisis on flights

Currently, there are 1,02,44,852 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 98,34,141 patients have recovered while 1,48,439 fatalities have been reported. There are 2,62,272 active cases in the country. With 26,572 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 recovery rate soared to 95.99%. At present, the recovered cases outnumber active cases by 95,71,869. So far, India has recorded 7423 cases per million population, which is among the lowest in the world. 

At the advent of the COVID-19 crisis, passenger international air travel was suspended with effect from March 22. Meanwhile, domestic flight operations stopped from midnight of March 24. Meanwhile, the Centre commenced the Vande Bharat mission on May 7 to bring back the Indian nationals stranded abroad. From May 25, domestic air operations were allowed in a calibrated manner. Initially, only 33% of the summer schedule was permitted to operate which was subsequently increased to 45% on June 26, 2020, and 60% on September 2, 2020. At present, airlines are operating domestic flights at around 80% of their pre-COVID-91 levels. 

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