Lufthansa Cancels Flights Between India And Germany Till 20 October

Lufthansa Group on Tuesday said that it has cancelled all flights between India and Germany from 30th September till 20th October 2020 due to disputes with the government over the number of flights it is currently allowed to operate.

“We regret to announce that the approval for special flights provided by the Indian authorities until the end of September has not been extended into October. Due to this unexpected rejection, Lufthansa has been forced to cancel all flights between Germany and India from 30th September until 20th October 2020.” Lufthansa said in a statement.

“We request you to kindly rebook your customers accordingly or alternatively use the option of a refund. The updated flight schedule for our customers is available here. You are also requested to regularly check our website for flight updates.” the statement further added

However, there are restrictions in place for Indian nationals desiring to travel to Germany which was putting Indian carriers at a significant disadvantage resulting in inequitable distribution of traffic in favour of Lufthansa. (2/3)

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— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) September 29, 2020

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as the part of the Air Bubble agreement between India and Germany, 20 weekly flights are being operated by Lufthansa

While Indian carriers are operate between three and four flights per week.

The DGCA has said this means domestic carriers are at a “significant disadvantage”.

“… is putting Indian carriers at a significant disadvantage resulting in an inequitable distribution of traffic in favor of Lufthansa,” the civil aviation regulator’s said in a series of tweets.

As against Indian carriers operating 3-4 flights a week, Lufthansa operated 20 flights a week. In spite of this disparity we offered to clear 7 flights a week for Lufthansa which was not accepted by them. Negotiations continue. (3/3)

— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) September 29, 2020

The government proposed limiting Lufthansa’s flights to seven per week, which the airline rejected. Negotiations between both countries are continuing.

There are, however, restrictions in place for Indian nationals traveling to Germany and this, the government has said, was putting domestic airlines at a disadvantage and resulted in “inequitable distribution of traffic in favor of Lufthansa”.

Including Germany, India has air bubble agreements with 14 countries. Some of the others are Australia, Japan, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.

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