International Flights: India Plans to Increase Flight Services to More Countries, in Talks With Airlines, Says Govt Official

International Flights Latest News Today: As coronavirus cases have declined in a significant manner, the Central government is planning to increase the international flight operations from India and is in talks with several airlines and other countries, a senior officials told Moneycontrol.

Giving further details, the official said that the flight operations, however, will increase under the air bubble agreements to meet the rising demand from international passengers.

It must be noted that in air bubble arrangement between two countries, the international passenger flights can be operated by their respective carriers to each other’s territories, subject to certain terms and conditions.

He said that the Centre is open to the idea of increasing flights to destinations on a need-to-be basis, however it may not lift the restrictions on international flights soon. “Re-opening international commercial flights is still far away. We can surely consider opening once demand nears pre-COVID levels,” the official said.

As per the updates from the official, the Centre is planning to increase international flights to Dubai, Singapore, France, the UK, the US, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Australia in the next few weeks.

He said that the Centre is in talks with the high commissions of every country, and, wherever required, it is looking to increase flights under the air bubble agreements.

On the other hand, the Centre is also planning to collect data of international passengers and corresponding COVID cases after November 15 to determine if it is safe for commercial flights to open up as the threat of the third wave of COVID-19 is still at large.

The development comes as the Centre last month announced granting free tourist visas to those travelling by chartered flights by October 15 and those by regular planes from November 15. Moreover, the e-visa for India is also available for citizens of 156 countries.

It must be noted that the scheduled international passenger flights from India have been suspended since March last year due to COVID pandemic and now it has been extended till November 30.

Till now, India has established air bubble arrangements with more than 25 countries, including the US, the UK, Germany and Japan.