The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Tuesday said international flights will resume from March 27, 2022. The commercial international flight operations to and from India will be in strict adherence to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare guidelines.
“The government has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from 27.03.2022. International operations shall be subject to strict adherence to Ministry of Health guidelines for international travel,” said the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday.
The government took the decision to lift the ban on international civil aviation after considering vaccine levels across the globe and in consultation with various stakeholders, the ministry statement added.
It further noted that in light of the announcement, travel restrictions have been extended only until 2359 hrs IST on 26.03.2022 and air bubble arrangements shall accordingly be extended to this extent only. A travel ban was first announced by the government on March 23, 2020, and has been extended multiple times through subsequent notifications in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In order to prevent spread of Covid-19, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had suspended operations of scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India with effect from 23rd March 2020 vide circular dated 19.03.2020. Currently, in terms of DGCA’s circular 28.02.2022, the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India has been extended till further orders,” the ministry noted.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, India signed air bubble agreements with several nations for allowing bilateral movement of passengers. These arrangements will not be extended beyond March 27 deadline, as per the latest ministry notification.
