India extends suspension of international flights till April 30th

The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in a circular on March 23, 2021 further extended the suspension of international flights till April 30. 

The DGCA said that in partial modification of circular dated 26-6-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the above subject regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to and from India till April 30th. 

However, scheduled international flights will be allowed on select routes on a case-to-case basis by the competent authority.  

Exemption 

The restriction will not apply to all international all-cargo operations and flights that have been specifically approved by DGCA.

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— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) March 23, 2021

Background

The announcement comes in the backdrop on the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country. The Home Affairs Ministry issued new guidelines on March 23 for effective control of coronavirus infection. The guidelines will be in effect from April 1-8, 2021. 

The key focus of the guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains achieved in containing the spread of COVID-19, which was visible in the sustained decline in the number of active cases, continuously for about five months.

The guidelines mandate the state and union territory governments to strictly enforce the Test-Track-Treat protocol in all parts of the country.

It also mandates to ensure observance of COVID appropriate behaviour by everyone and to scale up the vaccination drive to cover all the target groups.