peepl-small

India Resumes Regular International Flights After 2 Years Of COVID-19 Hiatus

PUBLISHED:

Guwahati: After over two years since the pandemic hit the country, India is all set to resume regular international flights from Sunday. Over 3,200 departures per week will be operated from India per week during this year’s summer schedule which commences from today. According to the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 1,466 departures per week have been approved for Indian carriers. On the other hand, 1,783 departures per week will be operated by foreign airlines. The Summer Schedule 2022 is effective from March 27, 2022, till October 29, 2022. 

“A total of 1,466 departures per week have been approved to 43 destinations in 27 countries,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement. 

A total of 60 foreign airlines of 40 countries including Mauritius, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, the United States of America, Iraq and others have been approved to operate 1783 frequencies to/from India during Summer Schedule 2022. 

Out of the approved schedule, Gulf-based carriers like Emirates will operate 170 departures per week, followed by Oman Air at 115, Air Arabia at 110, Qatar Airways at 99, Gulf Air at 82, Etihad Airways at 80, Saudi Arabian Airlines at 63 and Kuwait Airways at 56.

Furthermore, Sri Lanka Airlines will operate 128 departures per week, Singapore Airlines at 65, British Airways at 49, Thai Airways at 36, Lufthansa German at 32, Malaysia Airlines at 30, Japan Air Lines at 22, Air France at 20, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines at 18 and Aeroflot Russian Airlines at 6.

In addition, the Centre has allowed operations to and from India to a few new airlines such as Salam Air, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, Qantas and American Airline.India had banned the operation of international flights on March 23, 2020, to contain and control the spread of Covid-19. Flight restrictions, however, were later eased under air bubble arrangements with certain countries. Now after over two years, with the COVID-19 situation under control, the Central government has allowed the resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services from March 27.

(With inputs from agencies)

RELATED ARTICLES