No normal international flights till July 31: DGCA amid rising COVID-19 cases across India, world

DGCA has once again said that international operation on selected routes may be allowed on case to case basis. 
Passengers lineup outside the Indira Gandhi International airport. (File | Shekhar Yadav/EPS)
Passengers lineup outside the Indira Gandhi International airport. (File | Shekhar Yadav/EPS)

NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator DGCA has made this clear that there will be no normal international operation of flights till July 31 this year. The new circular by the regulator has come amid the opening of booking by some airlines on international destinations.

DGCA has once again said that international operation on selected routes may be allowed on case to case basis. 

Modifying its June 26 circular that stated that scheduled international passenger flights will remain suspended till July 15, 2020, the regulator said on Friday it has decided to extend the deadline to July 31, 2020.

“However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case to case basis,” said the circular.

Scheduled international passenger flights were suspended in India on March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

India is in talks with the US, Canada and countries in the European and Gulf regions to establish "individual bilateral bubbles" which will allow airlines of each country in the pact to operate international flights, said Airports Authority of India chairperson Arvind Singh on Thursday.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) had on June 23 said India is considering establishing "individual bilateral bubbles" with the US, the UK, Germany and France.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had on June 20 said the government will start thinking on the resumption of scheduled international passenger flights in mid-July, when it expects the domestic air traffic to reach 50-55 per cent of the levels before the coronavirus.

After nearly two months of suspension to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the government resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25.

However, it had allowed airlines to operate a maximum 33 per cent of their pre-COVID flights.

The MOCA increased the limits on June 26 from 33 per cent to 45 per cent.

Air India and other private domestic airlines have been operating unscheduled international repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Mission, which was started on May 6 by the Central government.

(With PTI Inputs)

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