India continues to witness a massive rise in coronavirus cases. Looking into this situation, Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday extended the ban on international commercial flights till July 15.
Releasing a circular, the DGCA said, “The competent authority has decided that scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India shall remain suspended till 2359 hrs IST of July 15, 2020.”
However, the DGCA clarified that the ban will not be applicable for international cargo flights and those flights that have been approved by the DGCA.
“However, International Scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis,” the circular reads.
This statement comes after several international carriers expressed their desire to commence flight operations in India. A Civil Aviation ministry communication had recently stated that the ministry was looking into the matter on a case by case basis.
“We have received requests from concerned authorities in several countries including the US, France, Germany among others requesting that their air carriers be allowed to participate in the transportation of passengers along the lines being conducted by Air India under the Vande Bharat Mission. These requests are being examined.”
An Air India flight from Mumbai to Paris was recently rejected by French authorities and the cancellation at the last minute led to many passengers complaining of harassment at the hands of the national carrier.
Many countries have now said that India will have to seek prior permission to operate the Vande Bharat Mission flights. In this regard, the Civil Aviation ministry said, “We have had one round of negotiations with the US on June 15 with representatives of the US Department of Transportation and the US Embassy on this issue. They were invited to submit precise proposals in this respect we are looking at the prospects of establishing individual bilateral bubbles, India-US, India-France, India-Germany, India-UK. These are all destinations where the demand for travel has not diminished. Final decisions pursuant to negotiations are expected to be taken soon.”
Hardeep Singh Puri On The Resumption Of International Flights
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had also said that regular international flight services can be resumed when the domestic traffic reaches about 50-60 per cent and when other countries open up to international traffic without present conditionalities.
