India delays resumption of international flights from December 15 over Omicron fears

December 1, 2021

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) India via Twitter confirmed that the Indian government has put its plans to resume international flights from December 15, on hold for now.
A note from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation today read: “In view of the merging global scenario… the situation is being watched closely in consultation with all stakeholders and an appropriate decision indicating the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services shall be notified in due course”.
Earlier last week, the Indian government had taken a call to resume scheduled international commercial flights from December 15, after a hiatus of as many as 20 months.
The Centre on November 26 had said that commercial international passenger flights would be resumed on December 15. The decision was taken after consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
However, on November 28, the Centre said it would take a decision on the effective date to resume flights after reviewing the “evolving global scenario” over concerns relating to the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Scheduled international flights have remained suspended in India since March 23 last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, special international passenger flights have been operating since July last year under air bubble arrangements formed with 31 countries.