It depends on COVID-19 situation: Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on resumption of international flights to India

Pic for representational use only

New Delhi: Amidst the looming threat of the Omicron variant, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has once again paused the move to resume scheduled international flights to India. Importantly, the Civil Aviation Ministry had earlier announced the resumption of international flights from December 15.

Speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event on Tuesday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that India was ready to restart scheduled international flight operations but was forced to stop them due to the Omicron threat.

"Though I was looking forward to opening international air traffic, keeping in mind how Omicron has been raising virulently and violently around the world, we took this decision. All countries across the world have decided to contain international exposure and we did the same in India as of today," Scindia said.

When asked as to when India is planning to open scheduled international flights, the Union Aviation Minister said that it depends on the COVID-19 situation in the country. "It depends on Omicron and its behaviour," he added.

Meanwhile, over 50 omicron cases have been detected in India so far and as a precaution, the government has decided to put 12 countries on the `at-risk` list. 

"All international travellers coming from `at risk` countries will have to compulsorily prebook an RT-PCR test starting December 19, 2021, at six metro cities airports," MoCA order read.

Elaborating on the impact of COVID-19 on international flights, Scindia said, "Airlines were carrying around 420,000 passengers a day before COVID and the numbers are close to those numbers at present."

"The airlines are flying with 3.7 to 3.9 lakh passengers per day at a seat load factor of 75 to 80 per cent, which is a very healthy load factor," the Aviation Minister said.

India has banned scheduled international flights from March 2020. Currently, the country has air bubble agreements with many countries and Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flights are also operational.