The aviation regulator
DGCA said on Friday that it was extending the suspension of scheduled
international passenger flights in the country till July 31 but added that some
international scheduled services on selected routes may be permitted on a case
to case basis.
Scheduled international
passenger flights were suspended in India on March 23 due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Modifying
its June 26 circular that stated that scheduled international passenger flights
will remain suspended till July 15, 2020, the regulator said on Friday that it
has decided to extend the deadline to July 31, 2020.
"However, international scheduled flights may be
allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case to case
basis," said the circular by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA).
India is in talks with
the US, Canada and countries in the European and Gulf regions to establish
"individual bilateral bubbles" which will allow airlines of each
country in the pact to operate international flights, said Airports Authority
of India chairperson Arvind Singh on Thursday.
The ministry of civil
aviation (MOCA) had on June 23 said India is considering establishing
"individual bilateral bubbles" with the US, the UK, Germany and
France.
Civil Aviation Minister
Hardeep Singh Puri had on June 20 said the government will start thinking on
the resumption of scheduled international passenger flights in mid-July, when
it expects the domestic air traffic to reach 50-55 per cent of the levels
before the coronavirus.
After nearly two months of
suspension to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the government resumed scheduled
domestic passenger flights on May 25. However, it had allowed airlines to
operate a maximum 33 per cent of their pre-Covid flights. The MOCA increased
the limits on June 26 from 33 per cent to 45 per cent.
Air India and other private
domestic airlines have been operating unscheduled international repatriation
flights under the Vande Bharat Mission, which was started on May 6 by the
central government.
No comments:
Post a Comment