New Delhi: International flights resumed after a long gap of two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to an order issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. However, because of the worldwide coverage of vaccines the government has taken the decision to operate in full capacity.
The order said that Scheduled Foreign Carriers have applied for approval of their international schedule. The Summer Schedule 2022 is effective from March 27, 2022, till October 29 this year.
Union Civil Aviation Minster Jyotiraditya M. Scindia spoke to the media and said that 135 new flights have been inaugurated under Summer Schedule 2022. A flight between Gorakhpur and Varanasi has also been inaugurated on Sunday.
A total of 60 foreign airlines of 40 countries including Mauritius, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, the United States of America, Iraq and others have been given the approval to operate 1783 frequencies to/from India during Summer Schedule 2022.
However, there are a few new airlines which include India Salam Air, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, Qantas and American airline, to begin airline operations with India.
The requirement of a complete Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kit for the crew members, as per the revised guidelines, has also been removed, security personnel at airports can resume pat-down search of passengers when needed.
“According to the revised guidelines of Covid-19, the restriction of keeping 3 seats vacant on #InternationalFlights is removed. Also, the requirement of a complete PPE kit for crew members stands removed,” the Airports Authority of India said in a tweet.
According to an HT report, the government had restored all categories of tourist visas for foreign nationals and also issue fresh visas earlier this month. "Currently valid e-tourist visas issued for five years shall stand restored to nationals of 156 countries with immediate effect,” an official statement said.
The statement said that the move was delayed due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict and the need to bring back Indian nationals from the country. Before this, there was an air bubble arrangement which was a system between two countries, the international passenger flights can be operated by their respective carriers into each other’s territories subject to certain conditions.
The new move is expected to give the hospitality & tourism industry a boost, which was hit hard due to the pandemic. Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told parliament earlier this month that the aviation industry was seeing domestic air traffic close to pre-pandemic levels.
“So, we are very well on our way back to recovery, roughly about 5 to 6% off from pre-Covid levels. But then Omicron came along, and we had wave 3. And again, I am pleased to report to the House today that as of yesterday’s numbers, after going down to almost about 160,000 passengers a day in wave 3 from the pre-Covid level of 400,000 and post Covid-2 level of 383,000, we reached the number of roughly about 380,000 passengers per day," the HT reported stated.
He also said that due to the fuel price, the aviation industry was suffering huge losses, “Fuel prices have gone up. I may just point out that in 2020, prior to Covid, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was close to about Rs. 21,000 per kilolitre and today, it is Rs. 93,000 per kilolitre. So, fuel prices itself has gone up by close to 4.5 times. This is a very, very key issue for us,” he had was quoted as saying.
The scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.