India Extends Suspension of International Flight For Another Month?

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday issued an Order and extend the earlier Guidelines for Surveillance to remain in force up to 31st Jan 2021.

“Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extends the earlier guidelines for COVID19 surveillance to remain in force up to 31st January 2021” ANI Twitted.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) extends the earlier guidelines for COVID19 surveillance to remain in force up to 31st January 2021 pic.twitter.com/RVlW3rju1L

— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2020

The pervious guidelines of MHA on International Flights stated;

All activities have been permitted outside containment zones, except for the following, which have been permitted with certain restrictions:

• International air travel of passengers, as permitted by MHA

Now, as per the latest order of MHA, the entire guidelines have extended till January 2021. This clearly means that the scheduled International flight operation to/from India will remain suspended till 31st Jan 2021.

However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has not yet issued any circular on the extension of international flight suspension but as per their previous circular dated 26-11-2020, only International flights under the Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangement will be allowed.

it is worth mentioning that all scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic, special flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat mission since May and under air bubble arrangements since July.

The Vande Bharta Mission currently in phase 8+, under this phase, 1005 flights have been operated from 27 countries facilitating an estimated 1.8 lakh people. In terms of numbers, as of December 22, more than 40 lakh people have been facilitated under the Vande Bharat Mission.

Please Note: International Flights For the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman has suspended due to the spread of a new strain of coronavirus

Also Read: Mumbai Airport: Revised Guidelines For Passengers Arriving From UK, Middle East and Europe