International Flights Starts From August: These Airlines Begin Operations, Visa Process Starts!

As per the reports, the international flight operations which had been suspended due to Coronavirus outbreak are now resuming across the globe. 

When International Flights Operations Will Start In India?

In India, the resumption in operations for commercial international passenger flights is expected to begin from next month.

According to the Indian Express report, it is supposed to start in a phased manner. 

After a three months suspension, India is still planning to kick start its international travel, while the countries such as the US, China, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi and some in Europe have already opened their international flights. 

Although, some of them are working on less capacity while others are carrying passengers with full capacity.

Which International Flights Are Operating Now?

To start with, Delta Airlines which is the US-based airline started its operations last week with the first flight flying between the US and China.

Also, the route between Seattle and Shanghai was opened on June 25. 

While flights to Portugal, Greece, Lagos, Nigeria and Ghana have been postponed till at least next month.

Apart from that, United Airlines has resumed its operations from 4th July, between San Francisco and Shanghai. 

Similarly, Lufthansa has also started operating and taking trips to mainland China at least once a week. 

On the other hand, the Dubai based flight operator has recently announced that it will fly to Frankfurt, London, Milan, Paris, London, Madrid, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne and Sydney. 

This month, flights for other destinations will also resume as Dubai is opening its doors for tourists and visitors from July 7.

Joining the league, the Qatar airline also started flying to 11 destinations from 3 July, which includes Los Angeles, Boston and Washington. 

On the other hand, British Airways is beginning its operations from Gatwick to four Caribbean destinations this month. 

The Etihad Airways is also resuming its services to 15 additional cities from July 16 to Istanbul, Male, Manchester, Dusseldorf, Cairo, Amman, Munich and Belgrade.

While Turkish Airlines had resumed its international operations from mid-June and is now flying to Ankara and European countries like London, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Resumption of Visa Application Process

In another development, the Foreign missions in India have gradually started resuming the visa application process.

According to VFS Global, the process has restarted for specific categories for UK, Ireland, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Italy, Norway, Belarus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, and Portugal in some cities, with the approval of respective embassies in India on Wednesday.

Although the visa resumption dates for big destinations for Indians like the US and Canada is yet to be announced. 

So far, VFS serves 51 client governments in India and already handled 60 lakh visa applications here in the calendar year 2019.

“Outbound international commercial flights have not yet resumed… The (restart) dates are subject to change at any time according to guidelines of the respective destination governments, as well as lockdown status in various states of India,” said VFS, considering the pandemic uncertainty.