Airlines poised to begin international flights from August, push for nod

CHENNAI: Airlines, including foreign carriers, are gearing up to start international flights from major cities including Chennai from August and have started to push for approvals.
However, stranded passengers and travel operators want the government to allow flights to international hubs immediately so that people waiting to fly to the US, Canada and Europe can board connecting flights from Dubai or Singapore instead of waiting for full-fledged scheduled operations to commence. This will also help people who want to return to India.
Most of the airlines have started to display fare for direct flights from Chennai to different destinations abroad. However, the ministry of civil aviation has not responded to the requests of the airlines.
Virgin airlines have already announced that they are resuming operations on its network from August and flights will start from Delhi and Mumbai to London in September.
Basheer Ahmed of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said, “Foreign carriers are ready to start services from India from August. Airlines based in the Middle East too have started to approach the government. However, this will require permission from the ministry of civil aviation and the state government who are worried about space for institutional quarantine.”