International flights to remain suspended till July 15

The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a circular on Friday announcing that commercial international flights to and from India shall remain suspended till July 15. In the circular, the civil aviation watchdog further stated that the order is not applicable to international cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the statutory body.

The DGCA also stated that the international flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis.

On June 20, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the re-commencement of international flight services will depend on factors like 'border acceptance' norms in the arriving country and the traffic demand.

All domestic and international flights were suspended late in March when the Union government had announced the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Air India and other private domestic airlines have been operating unscheduled international repatriation flights under the Centre's Vande Bharat Mission that started on May 6. India resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25, after a gap of two months. At present, airlines are only allowed to deploy 33 percent of their total capacity.

According to the Union Health Ministry data, India reported the highest single-day surge as COVID-19 cases went past 17,000 on Friday, pushing India's tally to 4,90,401, while the death toll climbed to 15,301 with 407 new fatalities.

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