E-Paper
India resumes international flights after 2 years
The country’s largest airport, Delhi, and second largest airport, Mumbai, handled 173 and 109 international flights respectively.
Regular international flights resumed in India on Sunday, two years after they were halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the country’s two largest airports handling close to 300 flights.
The restarting comes at a time when Covid-19 cases are at their lowest in India in close to two years and there is widespread vaccination. Experts said the easing will allow airfares to stabilise and help restart tourism.
“Today is a very important day...All regular international flights services resumed with full capacity from today. During the last two years of the coronavirus pandemic, the international flights were being operated under the air bubble arrangements,” said Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia while speaking to reporters in Gwalior.
The country’s largest airport, Delhi, and second largest airport, Mumbai, handled 173 and 109 international flights respectively.
“Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport operated 89 international departures and 84 arrivals,” said a Delhi airport official. “Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (CSMI) airport saw 58 departure flights and 51 arrivals on Sunday,” said a CSMI airport spokesperson.
Regular flights were suspended on March 23, 2020 and international flights were allowed as per travel bubbles, in which flights services were carried out in reciprocal arrangements.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) permitted 60 airlines from 40 countries to operate 1,783 frequencies to and from India during the summer schedule. This summer schedule will be effective from March 27 till October 29, 2022.
The DGCA has approved a total of 1,466 international departures for six Indian airlines for the summer schedule. The airlines will operate to 43 destinations in 27 countries.
IndiGo on Sunday said that it has resumed international flights on over 150 routes in April. These include cities like Dubai, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Colombo, Maldives.
William Boulter, chief commercial officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to resume our scheduled international operations. Following the easing of restrictions, we are witnessing a huge demand for international travel. We hope that this enhanced connectivity with various destinations across the continent will provide a boost to the travel and tourism sector, while proving to be a catalyst for economic revival…IndiGo remains committed to play its part in helping the nation bounce back. We will do so via our signature on-time, courteous and hassle-free service at affordable fares, across an unparalleled network.”
The government, on Saturday, also revised Covid guidelines for international flight operations, including the removal of the requirement to keep three seats vacant on overseas flights for medical emergencies. It also scrapped the requirement for the crew to have a complete PPE kit.
