India defers international flights resumption

A few days ago when the news of India Defers International Flights was announced, there was cheer and happiness in the travel and tourism industry. But now due to the Omicron variant of Coronavirus, this scenario has been changed. The government of India and The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has announced that the scheduled resumption of international flights has been postponed till further notice. The new dates will be announced once the situation gets better.

DGCA director general Arun Kumar said, “In view of the emerging situation, we are postponing the resumption of international flight operations. We will, however, continue flights under the air bubble agreement.”

Currently, India has bubble agreements with 28 countries including UK, France, Netherlands and Germany; where the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly. 

According to the DGCA circular the agency is monitoring the situation closely and a new date for flight resumption will be announced later.

New Guidelines for International Travelers

Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO), has termed the Omicron variant as a variant of concern. After this the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asked officials to review the situation and plan to ease restrictions on India Defers International Flights.

The ministry of aviation has also chalked out new guidelines for international travelers. The international travelers have to upload a self-declaration form  and a negative RT-PCR test report on the Air Suvidha portal. Passengers from ‘at risk’ countries will also undergo RT-PCR testing on arrival. For other passengers arriving from non at risk countries will be tested randomly.

There will be institutional quarantine of 7 days and then a retest on 8th day and then another 7 days of self-monitoring.