Hours after the Home Ministry announced fresh guidelines pertaining to the countrywide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic, India’s aviation regulator DGCA made it clear that the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger flights will continue till the midnight of June 30.
In a circular issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation, it was emphasised and reiterated that foreign airlines shall be suitably informed about the opening of their operations to or from India in due course.
When will regular International flights begin from India
After a hiatus of two months, domestic passenger flight services resumed in the country this week since the lockdown was announced on March 25. During that time, all the scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended in India. Although domestic flight services have resumed in the country, International air travel shall remain suspended. As per the MHA order, a further decision will be taken on it after making an assessment of the situation.
However, the assessment and timings will not only be the affair of India. It will depend on the destination country’s assessment of India as well. Lots of things like India being safe, number of cases, curve will be factored in before consequent permissions are issued to Indian carriers to fly to their airports.
And that’s where India could be at the far end of the pecking order as the Covid-19 cases in India continue to be on an upswing, even as they’ve peaked or are coming down in other geographies. Also, since the post-COVID resumption pattern could hinge entirely on the power of discretion with countries and their aviation regulators.
Have other countries allowed International flights already?
A number of countries have given a green signal to international flights. June 15 onwards, countries within Europe will be allowed for intra-Europe travel, which will enable air travel including for leisure purposes. Countries like Sweden, the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Slovenia have opened borders to EU tourists, while those like Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland have opened up partially. Thus, airlines such as Lufthansa has announced 3,600 weekly flights in June. Furthermore, Lufthansa, as well as its group airlines SWISS and Eurowings are likely to operate 70 overseas flights, too.
However, it may be preemptive on part of the airlines given that the European Union is yet to take a call on whether it will reopen its external borders on June 15. In Asia, Qatar Airways has said it plans to grow its network back to over 50 destinations before mid-June, including the resumption of services to Manila, Amman and Nairobi. The Doha-based airline has also said that by the end of this month, it hopes to connect 80 destinations, including 23 in Europe, four in the Americas, 20 in the Middle East/Africa and 33 in Asia-Pacific.
Air bridges and bubbles in talks?
Whilst quarantining and testing of passengers are measures that have universal appeal, there is already talk of “bubbles” or “air bridges” joining jurisdictions that have largely eliminated the virus and trust in each other’s testing and case numbers.
Passengers are to be tested before a preflight period of quarantine and they will then be tested every two days in quarantine after they land. The aim is to find the shortest safe quarantine period for brief business trips, instead of the 14-day prescription in vogue currently.
According to The Economist, Australia and New Zealand could lead the way with a proposed “Covid-safe travel zone”, or the trans-Tasman bubble. Small countries in the Pacific including Fiji and the Cook Islands, which have kept the virus at bay, could join in, with the zone being expanded to other jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Incidentally, Taiwan is working with Stanford University, as first reported by the Financial Times, to create a “safe-travel protocol”, under which some 500 “human guinea pigs” will travel from San Francisco to Taipei.
For Indian travellers to fly abroad, a lot depends on the trajectory of the pandemic in the country and on how regulators, DGCA as well as international regulators, certify the opening of their flight operations to or from India in the coming months.
In case you are planning a trip outside India or travelling back to India from affected areas, do follow the government’s latest travel advice. The Ministry of Health’s special helpline is available at +91-11-23978046 and ncov2019@gmail.com.