As the international passenger flight ban neared its end date, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the suspension till February 28th.
This ban, however, isn’t going to be applicable to certain flights permitted by the department along with the cargo-carrying airplanes.
In its Tuesday announcement it in the circular, “The restrictions shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.”
The suspension had first been put in place on 22nd March 2020 after covid-19 started spreading its flame in India. Since the past months, the government has cut down many restrictions owing to the drastic drop in the economy, except the international passenger flight ban.
“However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis,” the regulator added.
As the usual flights were restricted, India, in May, began its own set of international special flights that work to bring stranded citizens from different countries of the world back to their homeland. Selected countries too have tie-ups with India by which a bilateral “air bubble” arrangement has been formed since July.
Nevertheless, though restrictions were put on international flights since March 23rd, domestic flights were allowed to function again from May 25th, helping passengers release a sigh of relief through easy travel after a gap of over 2 months.
Under the bilateral “air bubble” arrangement, India has joint hands with around 22 countries including the US, UAE, UK, France, Canada, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Netherlands, Kenya, and Bhutan. Through the pact, citizens can travel between the territories.
Except for these regions, international travel cannot be made to other nations as per the government announcement.
Since the outbreak of the virus, India and other countries alike have made several attempts to curb the spread of the disease. As such, many sealed their airports and placed travel restrictions. More recently, several nations suspended flights to and from the United Kingdom after the region reported a new variant of coronavirus.
India banned the flights a couple of days later during which flights landed from the UK carrying infected passengers, resulting in the UK strain spreading in India too.
