International Flights: India is planning to reopen international borders for scheduled flights soon. Arvind Singh, the Tourism Secretary of India, spoke to ET TravelWorld at an event that was organized by the Ministry of Tourism in Delhi and said that the mood in the government is in favour of reopening international borders. India, much like the rest of the world, has closed its borders since the pandemic hit last year.
Speaking to ET Travel, at an event that was organised by the Ministry of Tourism in Delhi, Arvind Singh said that the mood in the government is in favour of reopening of international borders.
It must be noted that the country just like the rest of the world has closed its borders since the pandemic hit last year.
According to Singh, the Minister of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation have been having extensive consultations regarding restarting international scheduled flight in the near future. The good news is that everyone is in agreement on reopening borders and restarting scheduled flights. As of now, India has air bubbles with other countries.
He, however, added that it is a matter of announcing the date and setting the required protocols by the concerned Ministries of Home and Civil Aviation.
India has an air bubble arrangement with 18 countries and 49 cities as of September. Special international flights are operating with proper COVID protocols.
Meanwhile, The suspension on scheduled international commercial passenger flights has been extended by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) till October 31, 2021.
However, the restriction doesn’t apply to international all-cargo operations, the official statement released by DGCA said.
Besides, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis, the notice further added.
In a bid to control the spread of COVID-19 the government had suspended the commercial international flights in March 2020. However, special international flights were permitted to operate under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ in May to bring home thousands of Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
