India to allow regular international flights from mid December, 14 countries barred: Report

In what might be seen as a respite for the Airlines industry of the country, the latest reports claim that India will be allowing regular international flights starting from mid-December. According to a report in The Economic Times, regular international flights will be allowed in the country from December 14. This decision comes more than 18 months later since India banned regular international flights from March 2020, owing to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. However, reportedly, 14 countries including the UK, France, and Singapore are still barred from the list.

India to allow regular international flights from mid December

While fliers and travel-lovers can now finally have a moment of relief and rejoicing, it's important to note that international flights will still not be allowed from 14 countries. These countries which are barred include the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, China, Finland, Brazil, Mauritius, Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

As mentioned before, regular international flights were barred from March 2020. Later, Vande Bharat flights and under bubble arrangements were allowed. As such, according to a source close to The Economic Times, flights from the 14 barred countries will continue under these bubble arrangements.

India has covered 40% of vaccination has instilled confidence in the authorities to resume overseas flights. Moreover, analysts see it as a positive decision for the aviation industry of the country. "This is a positive step and the right way to approach the reopening of air traffic. This will give relief to passengers travelling to countries where international flights are resuming by arresting skyhigh fares. Doing this in phases will also help keep virus spread in check as few European countries have reported fresh cases of coronavirus," stated Gaurav Bhatia, Executive Director at Bird Group, a company that owns Amadeus India.