India extends ban on international flights to November 30 with some exceptions

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the suspension of international flights to November 30 even as it makes exceptions for certain flights specially pre-approved by the DGCA and for all-cargo flights.

Currently India has 'air bubble' arrangements with 28 countries like the UAE and Britain, operating only specific flights under a certain set of conditions. At the recent airport inauguration in Kushinagar, UP Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal was quoted by PTI as saying that current air bubble agreements were more than adequate to meet demands.

Bansal said that re-opening could be considered once demand neared pre-Covid levels as in some sectors there was a sign of increasing passenger loads. Domestic air passenger traffic saw a 5.45% growth last month (7.07 million passengers in September) with the easing of lockdown curbs following the decline in Covid cases that gave confidence to more people to travel by air.