Scheduled International Flights To India To Remain Suspended As DGCA Extends Ban Till Feb 28

The ban on commercial international flights to and from India, which began in March 2020 has been extended by another month by the country's aviation watchdog.

In a circular on Wednesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated: "The competent authority has decided to extend the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs IST of February 28, 2022."

pic.twitter.com/5KCcDlZHMX

¡ª DGCA (@DGCAIndia) January 19, 2022

This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA, it mentioned.

BCCL

Fights under air bubble arrangement will not be affected, it noted.

Omicron spreading rapidly

The extension of scheduled international flight suspension comes as countries across the world are experiencing another wave of COVID-19, due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Though regular operations were suspended in March, from May 2020 India had launched Vande Bharat Mission under which flights were dispatched across the world to repatriate Indians stranded in other countries due to the lockdowns there.

Representational Image/iStock

India had also entered into air bubble agreements with around 32 countries under which flights from a to those nations were facilitated.

Under this, in January so far, an average of 50,000 passengers departed India on a daily basis, while 36,000 arrived.

With the pandemic under control, late last year the Indian government had announced that scheduled international flights from December 15, 2021.

However, this had to be put on hold due to the emergence of the Omicron strain and the suspension is likely to be in place for at least a few more months.

While international flight operations continue to be limited, the DGCA had last year lifted the restrictions on domestic flights.

IndiGo

While the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) removed all capacity restrictions on scheduled domestic flights on October 18, the lower and upper limits on domestic airfares continue to remain in place.

Even in the third wave, domestic flight operations have remained largely unaffected.

But several airlines including IndiGo have said that they may cut down as much as 20 per cent of operations due to the lack of demand.

"Owing to the increasing number of Omicron infections, large numbers of IndiGo customers are changing their travel plans. In response to customer needs, IndiGo is waiving change fees and is offering free changes for all new and existing bookings made up to January 31, for flights up to March 31, 2022. With the reduced demand, we will also be selectively withdrawing some of our flights from service," IndiGo had said.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.