New Delhi: Regular international flights which were suspended in March 2020 are likely to resume in a month. It is learned that the aviation ministry has taken up this with the health ministry and is tentatively considering March 15 or the end of next month when the summer schedule will begin.
This will be a big relief for the travelers as the relaxed quarantine and testing norms are eased globally omicron The demand for travel has increased. However, due to the limited air bubble, fares have skyrocketed for this summer.
Under the air bubble arrangement, special passenger flights are operating between India and about 40 countries since July 2020.
Delhi based former banker Richa Gupta Wants to book flights this summer to go to the US and be with my son who is studying in Boston. “The fare is currently a return of Rs 1.07 lakh to the economy of an American airline. Last January, we booked it for a return of Rs 60,000. In December, our son flew to Delhi and came back for Rs 1.6 lakh, when Omicron was at its peak. Now that the situation is improving, this should be reflected in the fares as well. Gupta said.
“Announcing the reopening dates will allow airlines to gradually add more flights to the booking system. Once that happens, the increase in supply will mean lower fares,” said an airline official.
For example, the UK is one of the markets that is witnessing a sharp rise in fares due to an increase in demand due to the lifting of restrictions.
Anil Kalsi, a leading Delhi-based travel agent said, “With the UK lifting of COVID-related testing and quarantine restrictions, there has been an increase in reservations from India. Fares have increased by up to 50%. In the short term, seats in economy class are selling for over Rs 1.2 lakh. ,
Scheduled international flights were suspended on March 23, 2020. They were supposed to resume gradually from December 15, 2021, but the surge in Omicron’s cases did not allow that to happen. The travel industry expects India to resume regular flights on mutual acceptance of each other’s vaccination certificates without any delay.
“We were expecting this to happen last August-September when delta Variant was reduced. However, it was so delayed that by the time it was supposed to happen, Omicron had already entered. We should not lose this window now,” said an airline official.
The reopening on December 15 had placed countries in three different categories for a gradual return to normalcy – from 100% to 50% of pre-Covid levels depending on whether a country is at risk or not .
With effect from February 14, 2022, India removed the ‘at risk’ classification and replaced it with a list of countries and territories from which fully vaccinated passengers can fly without pre-departure testing. The requirement of mandatory seven-day home quarantine and the need to conduct RT-PCR test on the eighth day were also done away with. With these rules relaxed, the next logical thing to do is to resume regular flight. Now it could happen soon.
This will be a big relief for the travelers as the relaxed quarantine and testing norms are eased globally omicron The demand for travel has increased. However, due to the limited air bubble, fares have skyrocketed for this summer.
Under the air bubble arrangement, special passenger flights are operating between India and about 40 countries since July 2020.
Delhi based former banker Richa Gupta Wants to book flights this summer to go to the US and be with my son who is studying in Boston. “The fare is currently a return of Rs 1.07 lakh to the economy of an American airline. Last January, we booked it for a return of Rs 60,000. In December, our son flew to Delhi and came back for Rs 1.6 lakh, when Omicron was at its peak. Now that the situation is improving, this should be reflected in the fares as well. Gupta said.
“Announcing the reopening dates will allow airlines to gradually add more flights to the booking system. Once that happens, the increase in supply will mean lower fares,” said an airline official.
For example, the UK is one of the markets that is witnessing a sharp rise in fares due to an increase in demand due to the lifting of restrictions.
Anil Kalsi, a leading Delhi-based travel agent said, “With the UK lifting of COVID-related testing and quarantine restrictions, there has been an increase in reservations from India. Fares have increased by up to 50%. In the short term, seats in economy class are selling for over Rs 1.2 lakh. ,
Scheduled international flights were suspended on March 23, 2020. They were supposed to resume gradually from December 15, 2021, but the surge in Omicron’s cases did not allow that to happen. The travel industry expects India to resume regular flights on mutual acceptance of each other’s vaccination certificates without any delay.
“We were expecting this to happen last August-September when delta Variant was reduced. However, it was so delayed that by the time it was supposed to happen, Omicron had already entered. We should not lose this window now,” said an airline official.
The reopening on December 15 had placed countries in three different categories for a gradual return to normalcy – from 100% to 50% of pre-Covid levels depending on whether a country is at risk or not .
With effect from February 14, 2022, India removed the ‘at risk’ classification and replaced it with a list of countries and territories from which fully vaccinated passengers can fly without pre-departure testing. The requirement of mandatory seven-day home quarantine and the need to conduct RT-PCR test on the eighth day were also done away with. With these rules relaxed, the next logical thing to do is to resume regular flight. Now it could happen soon.
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