Around 20 months after flights were suspended due to the pandemic, the government has announced opening scheduled international passenger flights from December 15 in a graded fashion based on Covid19 transmission risk. There would be restrictions in the case of 12 ‘at risk’ countries currently including South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong, which have been traced to the latest Delta variant.
While domestic flights had resumed in May 2020, international airlines were allowed to operate only under bilateral bubble arrangements on some routes. At present, the capacity on international routes is between 40-45 per cent of the winter 2019 level.
The decision to open up international flights was announced by the civil aviation ministry on Friday following consultations with the ministries of external affairs and health and home.
