India extended the ban on normal international passenger flights from September 30 till October 31 in wake of unrelenting rise in coronavirus cases
- Ban on normal international passenger flight operations extended to October 31 from September 30 deadline
- Ban does not apply to international all-cargo and international scheduled flights approved by the DGCA
- Civil Aviation Ministry made the announcement shortly after MHA released ‘Unlock 5’ guidelines
The ban on international flights to and from India has been extended till October 31 owing to unrelenting rise in the pandemic across the country. This ban will not apply to international all-cargo and international scheduled flights approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said on Wednesday.
The announcement by MoCA comes shortly after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released Unlock 5′ guidelines and few hours before the expiration of its earlier circular dated August 26, 2020, in which international travel ban was extended till September 30.
As part of new relaxed rules, Centre permitted cinemas/ theatres/ multiplexes to open with up to 50% of their seating capacity. State governments have been given the freedom to decide about school-opening dates after October 15 as part of new unlock guidelines.
As part of new relaxed rules, Centre permitted cinemas/ theatres/ multiplexes to open with up to 50% of their seating capacity. State governments have been given the freedom to decide about school-opening dates after October 15 as part of new unlock guidelines.
“In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the subject cited above regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs 1ST of 3151 October, 2020. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said in a statement released Wednesday evening.
International Scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis, the statement added. MHA reiterated the same in the ‘Unlock 5’ guidelines.
It is to be noted that normal international passenger flights to and from India were suspended on March 23 and extended till September 30 in a circular dated August 26, 2020
DGCA Chief Arun Kumar’s on August said that full-fledged resumption of international flight operations will depend on the state of pandemic all over the world. India recently became the worst-affected in the world in terms of discovery of new Covid-19 cases on a daily basis.
“A lot of countries are still enforcing quarantine measures & it will take some time to have fully operative international flights,” Kumar told news agency ANI earlier.
It is to be noted that India is running special international flights under the government’s Vande Bharat Mission (VBM), a repatriation programme to bring back Indians stranded abroad due to international travel bans in various regions.
has formed bilateral air bubble arrangements with 15 countries to ferry
Source: timesnownews
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