India extends commercial international flight ban until December 31

Thursday, November 26, 2020

India’s aviation safety regulator DGCA extended the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger flights to December 31. However, the restrictions will not apply on international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), according to official reports. Some scheduled international flights might be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis.

The suspension of international commercial passenger flights to and from India, has been in place since March 23 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and was initially set to expire on November 30. In the absence of regular flight service on overseas routes, special international flights are being operated under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral “air bubble” arrangements with selected countries since July.

As of now, India has air bubble pacts with around 22 countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Maldives, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Tanzania, the UAE, the U.K., Ukraine and the U.S. The DCGA circular, titled ‘Travel and Visa restrictions related to COVID-19’ states, “In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the subject cited above regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs IST of 31st December, 2020.”

« Back to Page

• Germany puts visa rejection appeals on hold for Türkiye, China and Morocco

• Macau imposes stringent COVID-19 rules

• Outbound Chinese tourists travel sees huge drop in post pandemic

• Tourism in Cologne: Recovery and normalisation in the 2nd half of 2021

• More than 5,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide this Christmas weekend