On Wednesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation stated that it is watching the situation closely regarding the resumption of scheduled commercial international flights. The decision comes after countries have tightened norms for international passengers due to the Omicron variant scare.
The DGCA has said that an effective decision indicating the effective date of resumption of scheduled international passenger services will be made in due course, implying that international flights are not likely to be resumed from December 15 as was earlier notified by the government.
International flights have been suspended since March 23, 2020. The scheduled flights have been operational under air bubble arrangements formed with 31 countries.
On November 26, the DGCA stated that international flights would resume from December 15. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has decided to resume scheduled international passenger services to and from India on December 15, 2021, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The MoCA had decided to resume flights after dividing countries into three separate capacity restrictions based on countries recognized to be at risk of the Omicron variant. The United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, Singapore, Israel, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe were classified as at risk countries.