International Flights From India Will Resume From April? Reports Suggest This Development..

International flights from India are likely to resume from around March 15-20 after a suspension of nearly 2 years.

Giving Airlines Time To Prepare

The Union Aviation Ministry could issue an order regarding the matter.

The inter-ministerial nod is required to allow that to happen.

Airlines will likely be given around two weeks’ time to prepare for the flights.

Sources say that authorities will continue to enforce standard operating procedures that are effective at Indian airports for foreign arrivals and departures.

Basis Of Domestic Flights Hitting Target

The Civil Aviation Ministry is said to have almost finalised the decision to resume regular international operations following consultation with the Health Ministry with the decline in COVID cases.

It may give its nod to international flights once an internal target for domestic capacity touches 80% of pre-Covid flights. “Since domestic flights are returning fast, it may happen soon,” said a source.

Domestic airlines operated more than 2,800 flights before the pandemic.

As of Sunday, they operated 2,058 flights and to reach 80% of the pre-Covid level, the number has to go over 2,200.

Guidelines Remain In Place

However, no official announcement has been made yet by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Even if regular international flights resume from March 15, the guidelines for international arrivals which started from February 14 will still be followed at airports for the arrivals.

On February 14, the Health Ministry issued revised guidelines for international arrivals.

New Guidelines

It removed the mandatory seven-day home quarantine and the requirement to undergo an RT-PCR test on the eighth day.

Passengers have the option to either upload a negative RT-PCR report, taken 72 hours before travel or upload certificates of the full Covid vaccination schedule.

The categorisation of ‘at risk’ countries have also been removed.

Current Ban Stays

People arriving from these countries will no longer have to give samples upon arrival and wait for the result.

The ban on scheduled international passenger flights remains in effect till February 28, which had been put into effect since March 23, 2020 when the pandemic era began.

Air bubble arrangements in which special passenger flights operate between India and around 40 countries have been in place since July 2020.