Regular international flight operations, which have remained suspended owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, is expected to return to normal soon. Civil Aviation Ministry Secretary Rajiv Bansal on Wednesday said that international passenger flight services are expected to be normalised soon and possibly by the end of this year.
As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the international flight operations have been suspended till November 30. The government has been allowing commercial international flights on a case-to-case basis.
Scheduled international passenger flights to and from India were suspended in March 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. However, the restrictions will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a circular added.
Currently, India has formed air-bubble pacts with around 28 countries, including the US, the UK, the UAE, Kenya, Bhutan and France. Under an air-bubble pact between two countries, special international flights can be operated by their airlines between their territories with specific restrictions.
After the first wave of COVID-19 subsided, a lot of countries opened their borders for tourists from India, especially Dubai, Maldives and Seychelles. However, we the arrival of second-wave and increasing cases, almost every country put India on a red list of international arrivals. Things, now, are again going back to normal and with India managing to reduce infection rate drastically, international
travellers from India holding tourist visas are being allowed by many countries. With the vaccination meted out and countries allowing international travel, there is a great relief.
On the other hand, domestic air passenger traffic has seen an uptick, almost reaching pre-Covid levels. On November 23, over 3.59 lakh domestic air passengers travelled via 2743 flights across India. Last weekend, 3.94 lakh domestic air passengers travelled, which is highest since the pandemic.
Last week, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the government was evaluating the process for normalising international operations and asserted that it wants to return to normalcy while keeping in mind the coronavirus pandemic situation in certain parts of the world.
Speaking about its loss-making carrier Air India, Bansal said it is likely to be handed over to the Tata group by the end of the year. “We are making efforts to handover all operations of Air India by the end of December’. Air India has been incurring a monthly loss of more than Rs 600 crore, he noted. On October 25, the Government signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of the airline for Rs 18,000 crore. The amount includes payment of Rs 2,700 crore in cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the carrier's debt.