Indian Government lifted International flight ban, after 2 years of Covid-19
After two years, India has finally lifted the ban from scheduled International commercial flights. These flights were suspended after the Covid outbreak around the world. The ban hasn’t been lifted since then. The first ban was in the year 2020, with the outbreak of the virus. Since that the vaccination coverage has increased in and out of the country. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has now decided to lift the ban.
The Government will lift the ban on the 27th of March 2022. The commercial flights will be back in action. The stakeholders also approved to proceed with this idea. After getting a green signal from the stakeholders, the Government decided to lift the ban. The ban is supposed to be lifted at the start of summer 2022.
Only the scheduled international commercial passenger services will be resumed from the march. Since July 2020, India used to have an air bubble arrangement. Flights were coming in and out of the country from the countries with which India has tied up. Only a selected number of countries were a part of this operation. Flights operated in the territories of these countries only. But after March 27th, the schedule before the pandemic of covid will resume & International travel to all the countries around the globe will resume.
The scheme of air bubble arrangement came with its own set of restrictions & the restrictions and guidelines of covid were also imposed. Normal scheduled commercial flights were banned all this time during the outbreak of the virus. Jyotiraditya Scindia is the Minister for civil aviation. He has laid down that the air bubble scheme will no longer be in force after March 27th, 2022. However, the newly opened flights for International travel from March will have to follow a set of proper guidelines.
The guidelines for the same will be issued by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry. The Civil Aviation Ministry has strictly laid down that the guidelines have to be followed strictly. Since there is news for a new Covid outbreak in June, the guidelines and covid restrictions must be followed to keep the cases in control. The ban has been lifted due to a drop in Covid cases in and outside the country. It is also because of the increasing number of vaccinations. The tourism industry has welcomed this suspension on the ban with open hands.
The government is expected to welcome foreign travelers back in the country after two years. It will also boost the economy of India which has seen a downfall after the pandemic. The tourism industry has seen a stoop down because of the restrictions put up till now. Authorities will follow the standard operating procedures. These procedures were effective at the Indian airports for the arrival and departure of foreign dedicates before Covid. The Health Ministry of India has also shown a green signal in this decision.
The guidelines to be followed at the Indian airports have been in use since the 14th of February. The same is likely to be followed during international travels as well. As there has been a decline in the number of cases. And, the impact of Covid has also declined. Forty countries were a part of the air bubble arrangement. During the restriction, special passenger flights were operating between these countries. The guidelines that were issued on the 14th of February by the Health Ministry revised the earlier guidelines.
The new set of guidelines removed the mandate of seven-day home quarantine. It also removed the mandatory procedure of going through an RT-PCR test on the eighth day after the quarantine. The Health Ministry removed the countries that were under the category of at-risk. The Inter-ministerial committee took a mutual decision to lift the ban. The Inter-ministerial committee consisted of various ministers from the health and family welfare, home affairs, civil aviation departments & the Director-General of civil aviation was also a part of this.
The Ministry of health and family welfare gave the final nod as they had been closely monitoring the number of Covid cases. The Ministry took time deciding as some states have a high inflow of international traffic it is showing a rise in the number of Covid cases. The officials from these ministries are supposed to meet with the senior officers of the domestic and international airlines. The meeting is to discuss the measures and the protocols that are to be followed. It is for a smooth transition of uplifting the ban on international travel. The frequency of the flights has also increased.
The airlines flying from India to Ukraine removed the restriction on the number of flights seats. The decision was based on the guidelines of the Ministry of External Affairs. It is to arrange more flights from India to Ukraine because of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Charter flights were also allowed to operate between these two countries to evacuate the Indians that were stuck there.
Despite the tension, Ukraine has still kept its airspace open for the citizens of other nationals to flee from the country. To date, most of the Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine. After March 27th, flights will travel internationally to all the countries around the globe after two years.
