Schedule International Flights To Remain Suspended Till Further Orders: DGCA India

Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Govt of India on Monday announced that the suspension of regular international flights will remain in place till further orders are issued.

The scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the DGCA has allowed special passenger flights under Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangements between India and around 40 countries.

The DGCA in a Circular 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 further orders. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA”

The previous ban on scheduled international passenger flights to and from India was scheduled to expire on February 28th, but as usual, the DGCA has extended the ban, and international travelers will have to wait a few more days to fly on scheduled flights.

It is worth mentioning that in November last year the Govt of India has announced it will resume the operations of scheduled international flights with several countries starting 15th December 2021 but amid the fear of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron, India postponed the resumption of scheduled international flights.

When will India resumes scheduled international flights?

We previously reported that India intends to make a decision on lifting the ban on scheduled international flights in March 2022, and the recent directive stating that scheduled international flights will be suspended ‘until further orders’ indicates that scheduled flights will resume soon.

As per our earlier report, an inter-ministerial committee of officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), and the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will meet and take a call on resumption of scheduled International flights to and from India.

“The decision is yet to be taken by health ministry officials as some states with a high inflow of international traffic are still showing a rise in COVID-19 cases,” a government official said.