India’s civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said the government will ease the ban on flights from Iran, imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, to allow stranded citizens from the two countries to return to their respective homes.
The government had suspended flights to and from Iran on 26 February. Three weekly flights were being operated by Iranian carriers to Delhi and Mumbai prior to the suspension. The first flight from Iran, which will be operated by Mahan Air, is due to land in the national capital late on Friday. It will carry sample swabs of 301 stranded Indian citizens in the West Asian country—one of the worst hit by the virus.
Once the swabs are tested in Indian laboratories and cleared, the people will be allowed to return to India in subsequent flights, aviation secretary Pradeep S. Kharola said.
