State-run carrier Air India has opened booking for flights from India to the UK. The Air India flight services to Britain will resume from 6 January. “Booking for Air India flights between India & UK is open now,” Air India said in a tweet. Note that these flights are in addition to the regular flights. The booking is open through the Air India website, booking offices, Call Centre, and Authorised Travel Agents.

Air India opens bookings for India-UK flights | Check schedule, routes, booking rules

“Booking for Air India flights between India and UK is open now,” the airline said in a tweet.

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The flights for which bookings have been announced are: On January 6, 2021, two flights will fly to London Heathrow — one each from Mumbai and Delhi. The next day (January 7), two Air India flights are scheduled from London Heathrow to Delhi and Mumbai. On January 8, one Air India flight will fly from Mumbai to London Heathrow and another return flight has also been announced.

The announcement from Air India came hours after  Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said flights from India to the UK will resume from January 6, while services from the UK to India would resume from January 8 onwards.

“Resumption of flights between India and UK: India to the UK from January 6, 2021. The UK to India from January 8, 2021. Thirty flights will operate every week. Fifteen each by Indian and UK carriers,” Puri tweeted. 

He added that this schedule would be valid till January 23 and further frequency of flights will be determined after a review.

India had suspended all passenger flights connecting the two countries from December 23 to January 7 as a new variant of coronavirus emerged in the UK.

SOPs for Passengers From UK

Yesterday, the government had issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for flyers who will be arriving from the United Kingdom amid fears over a new coronavirus strain.

Upon arrival in India, UK-returned passengers will have to produce a negative Covid-19 certificate from a test done within 72 hours prior to the journey, the health ministry said in the detailed SOPs issued today.

“Passengers testing positive shall be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit coordinated by the respective state health authorities,” it stated.

The ministry has also asked the states/UTs (union territories) government to set up help desks at airports to facilitate the implementation of the SOP.

Coronavirus update: With 16,278 fresh Covid-19 cases, India’s caseload now stands at 10,357,569. The country’s death toll is nearing 150,000. With 1,947,011 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karnataka 921,938, Andhra Pradesh  883,210, Tamil Nadu 820,712, and Kerala 778,873. The world’s biggest inoculation drive against the coronavirus is set to begin in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, a day after the drugs regulator approved two vaccines — Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute, and Bharat Biotech’s indigenously developed Covaxin — for restricted emergency use.

Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech on Tuesday said they will work together to develop, manufacture and supply the Covid-19 vaccines in India and globally.World coronavirus update: The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 86,075,495. While 60,986,026 have recovered, 1,859,645 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 21,338,777 cases, and 361,932 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 10,357,569 cases, Brazil (7,754,560), Russia (3,260,138), UK (2,713,563).

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