Ban on international flights extended till July 31

Photo used for representational purposes

India on Friday extended the ban on international flights till July 31 as the nation entered the ‘Unlock 2' phase to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) released a circular stating that the ban on all international flights has been extended till July 31 and only cargo and flights approved by DGCA will be allowed.

"However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis," said the civil aviation regulatory authority.

On June 26, the DGCA had said that international flights will be banned till July 15, which has now been extended.

Last month, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that re-commencement of international flight services will depend on factors like 'border acceptance' norms in the arriving country and the traffic demand.

That time, he hinted at the prospects of bilateral bubble arrangements, which will allow some international operations between countries.

At present, healthy demand for evacuation flights have been witnessed in the North America-India sector.

All domestic and international flights were suspended late in March when the Union government had announced the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. Air India and other private domestic airlines have been operating unscheduled international repatriation flights under the Centre's Vande Bharat Mission that started on May 6.

India resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25, after a gap of two months. At present, airlines are only allowed to deploy 45 percent of their total capacity.

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