New DGCA circular: Your wait for international travel gets longer. Check details

In an earlier notice on June 26, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had suspended international flights, except cargo, till July 15. (Photo: The Indian Express)

If you are planning for international travel, wait for some more time as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has further extended its ban on international passenger flights by 15 more days to July 31. However, the civil aviation regulator, in a circular on Friday, has allowed cargo flights and some international scheduled services approved by the DGCA and that too on select routes depending on the case to continue their service.

In an earlier notice on June 26, the DGCA had suspended international flights, except cargo, till July 15.

The ban was extended because of the prevailing COVID situation in the country, according to government officials. The country needs more time to prepare before it starts scheduled international flights again, they said.

India as of July 5 has reported 673,165 Covid-19 cases and 19,268 fatalities due to the virus, according to data from the health ministry. Though the recovery rate has improved to 70%, the country still has 244,814 active coronavirus patients; 409,082 patients have been discharged.

According to officials, the restarting international operation mainly depends on the destination country. Due to the resurgent Covid-19 cases across the globe, many countries have closed their borders to stop foreign citizens from entering their lands; they have put strict restrictions on international travels.

However, in the past few days, some countries have opened up their borders for foreign citizens. But they have left out countries like India and Brazil, where the Covid-19 virus is running wild with the number of cases increased sharply.

Early this week, some countries from the European Union (EU) released a “safe list” allowing citizens of the listed 14 countries to travel between them for non-essential purposes. According to the release, the list will be reviewed every two weeks.

The United Kingdom (UK) has come up with a concept of “travel corridors”. The UK government has allowed passengers from these 59 jurisdictions to enter the country from 10 July onwards. It also exempts them from self-isolation, but with a condition; they must not have a travel history to a country not mentioned in the list the previous 14 days. India is not included in the UK’s “travel corridors” list.

However, Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) chairman Arvind Singh informed that India is in talk s with countries like the US, Canada, and some EU countries to start individual travel bubble, as reported by The Indian Express. US-based United Airways has already announced flights for the Delhi-New York route on July 10, 12, and 15. The airline has allowed for taking passengers from India only, but not from the US.