- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S civil aviation ministry on Wednesday (24) said the country will resume regular international flights that have remained suspended due to Covid-19 pandemic towards the end of the current year.
The government is currently allowing commercial international flights on a case-to-case basis.
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Recently, Indian civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the Narendra Modi government is eager to normalise international travel operations and is evaluating the process.
“We are evaluating the process. We are coming back to normalcy. First, we allowed 100% passenger capacity in our domestic flights and now we allowed in-flight meals in those flights,” Scindia, a former member of the Indian National Congress who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in March 2020 and became the civil aviation minister in July this year, said at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII’s) Global Economy Policy Summit in New Delhi.
The announcement came as a major relief to the aviation industry and the tourism industry, both of which have witnessed major losses due to the pandemic, Indian daily Hindustan Times reported.
Rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in some parts of the world, including in Europe, will also adversely affect the tourism industry as governments around the world impose restrictions.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation earlier extended the ban on scheduled international commercial passenger flights till November 30, allowing only international scheduled flights on selected routes by the competent authorities on a case-to-case basis and permitting cargo flights.
According to experts, India’s aviation industry is still not out of danger as tourism is yet to reach the pre-pandemic levels. Earlier in November, Air Vistara said the prolonged suspension of scheduled international flights originating from and flying to India is financially hurting most airlines.
“A prolonged suspension of scheduled international operations is definitely impacting the financial health of most airlines, thereby adding to the pressure (on the revenue),” Vistara CEO-designate Vinod Kannan was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India.
He said the situation is still unpredictable.
Domestic passenger traffic in India has gone up in airports across India and civil aviation secretary Rajeev Bansal has remarked that the Indian government expects the domestic passenger traffic to return to the pre-Covid levels beginning April next year.
