India will open regular international scheduled commercial flights operation from March 27.
This is after two years of suspension as part of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Indian government announced in a statement on Tuesday.
“After having recognized the increased vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with the stakeholders, the government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from March 27, 2022, i.e. start of Summer Schedule 2022.”
The operations of scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India was stopped on March 23, 2020.
This was a day before the government had announced the first nationwide lockdown to curb the rising number of Covid-19 infections.
International flights are presently operating under the ‘air bubble’ arrangement signed with 37 countries.
This arrangement has limited airlines’ operations and hurt the profitability of airlines.
The resumption of commercial flights on regular international routes could also result in lowering of airfares.
Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and group CEO of online travel platform ixigo, told the Indian Express:
“The demand for international travel is picking up in India, and there has been a significant uptick in travel search queries for popular international destinations like Australia, Sri Lanka, the US and UK.
Travel search queries from India for Australian cities like Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney have jumped 15-20 per cent this month.”
The international flight operations from March 27 shall be subject to strict adherence to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health for international travel.