E-Paper
Why India will resume restricted flight services in these 14 countries. Explained
Many European countries are also on the list as they are presently seeing the fourth wave of the pandemic. South Africa and Botswana, which have confirmed the new variant of Covid, are also there on the list of countries, which will see restricted services.
As India decides to resume regular international flight operations from December 15 after a gap of around 20 months, the ministry has come up with a list of countries where ‘regular flight operations’ will not begin. Regular flight operations mean pre-Covid flight operations. Flight operations will be allowed to some level in these 14 countries, the civil aviation ministry said on Friday. The decision to resume the international flight services as well as to keep these 14 countries on the restricted list has been taken in consultation with the health ministry, people familiar with the development said.
Which are the countries where India is not resuming ‘regular flight operations’?
UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Singapore are the 14 countries.
Why these 14 countries will see restricted service
These countries are high-risk either because of a resurgent Covid wave or the active number of cases. For example, South Africa has on Thursday confirmed a new variant of Covid following which several countries are imposing a travel ban on South Africa. The same variant has been found in Botswana. Both the countries are there on the list. Many European countries are also on the list as they are presently seeing the fourth wave of the pandemic.
The health ministry on Thursday alerted all states and Union territories to be extra cautious about international travellers either coming from or transiting through the countries where the new variant has been detected.
What will restricted operations be? Does this mean Indians can't fly to the UK, Singapore, Mauritius?
No. This list of 14 countries pertains to the resumption of regular international flights or pre-Covid-level operations. India has an air bubble agreement with many of the countries mentioned on the list. At-risk countries which have such agreements with India will see 75% of pre-Covid operations with India. Countries mentioned on the list which do not have air bubble agreements will see 50% of the pre-covid operations with India.
As of now, India has an air bubble agreement with 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, UAE, UK, US and Uzbekistan.
