As India moves towards lifting up it lockdown in phases, there were speculations of commercial international flights to resume. The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has put all such speculations to rest by announcing that all commercial flights would stay suspended to and from India till July 31. The previous deadline was slated for July 15.
It is important to note that the announcement is coupled with the fact that flights on selected international routes might be allowed after consideration.
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) July 3, 2020
DGCA, in the same circular, has also announced that the stay will not effect cargo operations or any special flights that have been approved by DGCA, specially the flights that are a part of the Vande Bharat Mission. The same was announced on Twitter.
All passenger flights were suspended on March 22 this year as India entered its first stage of lockdown to curtail the spread of COVID-19, which has taken the world by storm.
We have received requests from concerned authorities in several countries including US, France, Germany among others requesting that their air carriers be allowed to participate in transportation of passengers along the line being conducted by Air India under Vande Bharat Mission pic.twitter.com/MK5xNHV0Hx
— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) June 23, 2020
Earlier, in June, India’s Aviation Ministry hinted at the possibility of creating travel bubbles to the US, France, Germany and the UK, following requests for flights on the said routes to evacuate stranded passengers.