The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took the call for further extending the ban on the scheduled international flights to and from the country till July 31st on Wednesday. The scheduled international flights to and from India apart from cargo/repatriation/relief services have been suspended from March 2020.
According to a notification signed by the joint director general of the civil aviation regulator, Sunil Kumar said, “In partial modification of the circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of the circular issued on the subject cited above regarding scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hours IST of 31st July, 2021. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA.”
The notification further read, “However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis.”
Earlier, on May 28, the ban on international flights was further extended till June 30.
Though the ban on international flights has been extended further, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared on Monday, for the international travelers planning to visit India, the first 500,000 tourists will be given free visas, which is one of the eight schemes planned by the Centre to boost the country’s economy.