India Extends Ban On Scheduled International Flights Till Feb 28

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) India on Wednesday in a circular extends the suspension of scheduled international flights to/from India till 28th, February 2022.

It is worth mentioning that in November 2021, the Govt of India has announced it will resume the operations of scheduled international flights with several countries starting 15th December 2021.

But due to the scare of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, the Indian govt decided had postpone the resumption of scheduled international flights and now further extended for another month.

The DGCA of India in a circular issued on Wednesday said;

In partial modification of circular dated 26-11-2021, the competent authority has decided to extend the suspension of Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs 1ST of 28th February, 2022. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flight specifically approved by DGCA.

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However, the suspension is not applicable on cargo and special international flights approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the air bubble arrangements and Vande Bharat Mission.

India Air Bubble Agreements

Recently, India has finalized an air bubble arrangement with Saudi Arabia, this took the total number of such arrangements to 35 countries which include;

Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA) and Uzbekistan

India Updates Guidelines For International Arrivals

Recently India has revised its travel guidelines for international passengers arriving into the country and made a 7 day home quarantine mandatory for all travelers.

The new guidelines have come into effect from today 11th January 2022, so all travelers arriving into the country will now have to undergo home quarantine for seven days and undertake an RT-PCR test on the eighth day of arrival in India.

However, children under 5 years of age are exempted from both the pre and post-arrival testing, they only have to undertake the test if found symptomatic for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on arrival or during the home isolation period.