The temporary suspension of India-UK flights is likely to be extended beyond December 31. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said he expected a slight extension of temporary suspension of passenger flights between India and the UK where a new variant of coronavirus has been detected.
“I foresee a slight extension of temporary suspension of India-UK flights. In the next day or two, we will find out if any additional steps need to be taken, or when we can start easing the current temporary suspension,” Puri said while addressing a Press conference.
India had last week suspended passenger flights to and from the UK between December 23 and 31, after a growing list of countries like Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Italy did the same due to a more infectious coronavirus variant there. The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, and other countries.
India, UK have 67 weekly flights operated by four airlines — Air India, Vistara, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Almost 2,000-2,500 passengers fly in daily on these flights.
Meanwhile, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Arvind Singh told at the Press conference the Government is planning to hold the next round of privatisation of airports in the first half of 2021. “As far as the next round of airports’ privatisation is concerned, we are at the final stages of obtaining Government approvals. Once the approvals are received, I think we will start the process of bidding in the first quarter of 2021,” he said. The AAI had in September recommended the Centre now to privatise airports at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy.