International flights to and from India will resume in full on March 27, two years after the country placed a comprehensive embargo to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections. The break comes ahead of the summer season and is expected to help the industry recover.
“After having recognised the increased vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with stakeholders, the Government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India from 27.03.2022, i.e., start of Summer Schedule 2022,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) released a statement on Tuesday.
It said that the resumption of regular international flights would require governments to return to bilaterally negotiated capacity entitlements (number of passenger seats) under air service agreements.
“With the opening of the borders to visitors, this action will offer momentum to the sector’s and nation’s economic revival. “We’ll be revealing our overseas destinations’ schedules soon,” stated IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta.
Though regular or scheduled international flights were banned on March 23, 2021, the government began signing bilateral “air-bubble” agreements with various countries, beginning with France, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, despite opposition from some of these countries to Air India’s repatriation flights (or Vande Bharat flights) for Indians stranded around the world as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions. There were only a few direct flights to and from these nations as a result of this. India now has agreements in place with 36 nations.
Following the spread of the Omicron strain of COVID-19, the government declared the resumption of flights in November of last year, but had to reverse the decision within days.
Passengers on overseas flights will be required to follow the criteria set forth by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Before embarking on their journey, travellers arriving in India must fill out a self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha site and upload a negative COVID RT-PCR report or a proof of completion of the main immunisation schedule. Symptomatic travellers will be sent to a medical institution upon arrival, and 2% of all passengers on a plane will be subjected to random post-arrival testing.
International airlines may need 4-6 weeks to redeploy planes and build up capacity for India, while Indian airlines will have the first-mover advantage due to their under-utilized fleet.
“This is great news for all travelers and the industry, especially before the peak summer season. The demand for international travel is picking up in India and there has been a significant uptick in travel search queries for popular international destinations like Australia, Sri Lanka, the U.S. and the U.K. Travel search queries from India for Australian cities like Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney have jumped 15-20% this month. We are seeing a trend of travelers now eager to book long-haul destinations, fuelled by international borders reopening and relaxation of rules across the globe. Resumption of international commercial flights will also regularise the demand-supply balance, resulting in lower international airfares,” said Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder and Group CEO, ixigo
International flight movements are now roughly 40% lower than they were before COVID. Prior to COVID-19, there were 4,700 weekly departures, with 2,300 foreign carriers and 2,400 local carriers. This statistic is now at 2,100 weekly departures. According to the Airports Authority of India, total international passengers in January 2022 were 25 lakh, compared to 64.9 lakh in January 2020.
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