NEW DELHI: India will soon decide on resuming scheduled international flights that remain suspended since last March. While there are chances the same happens before the year-end, the worsening Covid situation in Europe has led to a rethink on the issue.
Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told TOI on Wednesday: “I am working on the issue of resumption of scheduled international flights with other Union ministries like home and health. There is no definite decision as of now due to the resurgence of Covid in some countries. The inter-ministerial discussions on the issue will hopefully arrive at a decision shortly.”
Earlier in the day, aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal told reporters that international flight services would normalise “very soon”, possibly by the end of this year. “This is still work in progress,” he told TOI.
The government wants to weigh in the Covid situation very carefully before deciding on scheduled international flights that were suspended in March 2020. Since last summer, international flights operate under air bubbles India has so far created with 31 countries. But the limited capacity has led to exorbitant international fares.