On the 29th of May, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry extended the imposed ban on international passenger flights till the 30th of June. The decision was taken by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA,) in the wake of the rising cases and ongoing second wave of the Wuhan virus also known as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19.)
This is the 5th time India imposed a ban on international passenger flights. The first such ban was in March 2020, when the first nationwide lockdown was imposed. Second time, on the 31st of August, the Civil Aviation Ministry imposed a ban till the 31st of September 2020 to curb the spread of the virus. Third was in March 2021, due to the second wave of the Novel Coronavirus. The fourth time was on the 30th of April till the 31st of May, following which the Union Ministry decided to extend the ban.
However, the imposed ban does not include arranged bubble flights and Vande Bharat flights. Amid the Wuhan virus pandemic, India has a bilateral air bubble arrangement for the operation of special international passenger flights. The arrangements are in effect with 28 countries, including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E., the United Kingdom (U.K.,) and the United States of America (U.S.A.) The other countries with which India has such a pact are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kuwait, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The Aviation Regulatory Body DGCA on the 28th of May, issued the circulation which read, “In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the above subject… regarding scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till 23:59 hrs IST of June 30, 2021.” The circular further read, “This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.” It also added, “International scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis.”
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) May 28, 2021
On the other hand, due to the second wave of COVID-19 in India, nations like Australia and Hong Kong have imposed restrictions on flights connecting them with India.
As of now, India has close to 27 million positive cases, of which 22 lakhs are active cases and more than 3 lakh people died due to the deadly virus. With this, India is also the second worst COVID-19 hit Nation, first is the United States of America (U.S.A.)
Stay tuned for further updates.
