The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday, 23 March, extended the ban on international commercial flights to and from India in the wake of COVID-19 till 30 April 2021.
The ban had earlier been in place till 31 March.
However, the ban will not apply to dedicated cargo flights, and flights which come under India’s bilateral air bubble pacts, added a notice issued by the DGCA.
The notice also added that international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the authority in question on a “case to case basis”.
In order to facilitate resumption of international flights, India had entered into ‘Air Bubble’ agreements with 27 countries. This type of arrangement allows nationals of both the countries to travel in either direction.
Passenger air services were suspended on 25 March 2020 due to the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19.
Domestic flight services, however, resumed from 25 May 2020.
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