The long-awaited result of discussions for the resumption of the scheduled international flights came this Friday after the Civil Aviation Ministry released their statement saying that, “Scheduled international flights to and from India will be resumed from December 15 after 20 months of coronavirus-induced suspension”.
Though the emergence of a new COVID variant has again made the airline industry falter with many countries putting a restriction on travels to South Africa, India also made the conditions and screening process stricter to control the spread of the virus. The Health Ministry released a list of 11 “At-Risk” countries that are only able to continue a percentage of their pre-covid scheduled flights. This was affirmed by the Civil Aviation Ministry also.
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India presently has air service ties with more than 109 countries and the air bubble arrangement, which allowed special passenger flights between two countries amid COVID-related restrictions with 32 countries, but it does not include the countries South Africa, Hong Kong, and Botswana. This resulted in strict restrictions being placed on them and other at-risk countries also.
The list of “At-Risk” Countries is mentioned below:
- South Africa
- Brazil
- Bangladesh
- Botswana
- China
- Mauritius
- New Zealand
- Zimbabwe
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Israel
The response of the public was debatable but this action of the government was accepted by everyone from the general public to airlines and tourism industries. Does this get your heart beating faster? Plan your getaway trip to or from India with Tripbeam. Find air tickets online, information, and flight schedules in a single place.
The restrictions placed on the countries for international travel are based on their health status against the infection. Following are the key points to be kept given by the Indian government.
Firstly the allowed number of scheduled flights of different countries will resume based on their risk status and whether they have an active air bubble system with India or not. The countries falling under the no-risk category including the USA, Canada, Australia, and more can run their pre-covid flight schedules.
The countries which fall under the risk category against coronavirus can operate a limited number of their previous flight schedules. The letter of Aviation Ministry addressed to DCGA mentioned that if a country has been identified in the ‘at-risk category and does not have an air bubble agreement with India, then a maximum “50 percent of bilateral capacity entitlements or 50 percent of pre-COVID operations of Indian or foreign carrier, whichever is higher”, will be permitted. The countries within the “at-risk” category having an air bubble agreement with India are permitted for up to seventy-five percent of their flight schedules.
Travelers of the ‘at-risk category need to provide their RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours and if fabricated then travelers are liable for criminal prosecution. They are subject to extra surveillance and for two covid tests once on arrival and after 7 days of that if the result is negative. And when the two reports are both negative then also they have to keep a record of and monitor their health for the next seven days.
Important Information
The countries that India has air bubbles ties with are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK, the USA, and Uzbekistan.
“The matter of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India has been examined in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and it has been decided that scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India may be resumed from December 15, 2021.”
“The seats under air bubble arrangement which have already been sold by airlines, which are more than the capacity entitlements under bilateral air service agreements available with the airlines, will be allowed to be operated till December 14, 2021.”
“Such airlines will restrict their operations to capacity entitlements enter bilateral air service agreements available with airlines with effect from December 15, 2021,”. These statements were issued by the Aviation Ministry this Friday.
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