Regular int’l flights with ‘risk’ rider from Dec 15

Regular int’l flights with ‘risk’ rider from Dec 15

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.111.2021

The Centre has allowed resumption of regular international flights from December 15, nearly 21 months after services were suspended on March 23, 2020. Now both Indian and foreign airlines can add capacity.

Air bubbles, that gave limited flights to some countries during Covid, will burst on December 14, allowing passengers flying between India and rest of the world to take connections from nearby hubs as per air service agreements. The increased connectivity will bring respite from sky-high airfares under the bubble system. The decision comes at a time when some countries like the UK and Italy are reimposing travel restrictions due to the detection of the new Covid variant in South Africa.

India could gain a lot from air travel move

India has become the first major south Asian country to open since the pandemic shook the world early last year and could gain a lot from the first mover advantage.

Covid high-risk countries will see a “calibrated resumption”, ranging from 75% to 50% of pre-Covid operations.

As on Friday, the Union health ministry’s list of “at risk” countries include the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel. But since air travel demand is nowhere close to pre-Covid levels, even this limited resumption will be enough for the present times and help lower fares. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) order on resumption of regular flights has placed countries in three different categories for a graded return to normalcy.

1. Countries not categorised as being at risk: Flights can be restored 100% by Indian and their carriers as per air service agreements (ASA). This includes over 90 countries from where fully vaccinated with approved jabs and Covid negative passengers can fly in quarantine free to India.

Full report on www.toi.in