India says no international air travel till July 31

India’s aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday announced that international air travel to and from India will remain suspended till July 31.

The circular released by DGCA stated, “In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has extended the validity of circular issued regarding scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till 2359 hrs IST of 31st July 2020. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.’

Just last week DGCA had announced that international air travel will remain suspended till July 15. The decision has been taken after assessing the COVID situation in the country.

Meanwhile the Indian government has received requests from concerned authorities in several countries including the US, France, Germany among others asking if they can be allowed to participate in the transportation of passengers along the line being conducted by Air India under its Vande Bharat Mission (VBM).

“We began VBM to bring back about 190,000 stranded citizens. But when numbers grew manifold we ramped up the mission. Since 6th May, nearly 445,000 people have returned on VBM (170K) & chartered flights including foreign charters (275K). More are expected to return in Phase-4,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri had tweeted.

Phase 4 of Vande Bharat Mission is now underway with the government planning to operate more than 500 flights via both Air India and private airlines. India had also resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25, after a gap of two months.