India extends ban on international flights till 31 May
Premium- Dedicated cargo flights, and flights under the bilateral air bubble pacts with select countries will continue to operate, DGCA has said
NEW DELHI : The Indian government has extended the ban on international commercial flights till 31 May, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular on Friday. The ban on scheduled overseas flights was to end on 30 April after a 13-month gap.
Dedicated cargo flights, flights under the bilateral air bubble pacts with select countries will continue to operate, the civil aviation watchdog said.
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1 min read . 11:16 AM ISTA bilateral air bubble is a mechanism to resume flights between India and other nations with preconditions during the pandemic.
India currently has bilateral air bubble agreement with about 27 countries, which include countries such as Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, the Maldives, Nepal, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK, Uzbekistan and the US.
However, several countries have banned or imposed restrictions on flights from and to India due to the recent surge in covid-19 infections in the country.
Countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Kuwait, New Zealand, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and UAE have banned travel to and from India due to the rising number of infections in the country.
As many as 386,829 more people tested positive for covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative cases to 18,762,976, the Union health ministry said on Friday morning.
As a result, the active tally in India is inching towards the 32-lakh mark as it stands at 31,70,228. The number was 30,84,814 on Thursday.
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