India has extended the ban on international commercial flights to and from India until January next year.
The circular released on December 9 by the Director-General of Civil Aviation said, “In partial modification of circular dated 26-11- 2021, the authority has decided to extend the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs IST of January 31 2022.”
“The restrictions shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGC. However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis.”
The announcement was made amid the rise in the newly-discovered Covid-19 strain named Omicron cases worldwide and India’s tightened norms for international passengers.
In November, the Aviation Ministry had announced that the regular international flights would be resumed from December 15.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation back then stated, “The matter of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India has been examined in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and it has been decided that scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India may be resumed from December 15, 2021.”
While the list of ‘countries at-risk has also been updated by removing Singapore, people travelling from Singapore will not have to home-quarantine.
Passengers from ‘at risk’ countries testing negative will still have to follow home quarantine for seven days, re-test on the 8th day of arrival in India, and, if negative, further self-monitor their health for the next seven days.
The updated list of countries at-risk includes countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong and Israel.
