New Delhi: After a two-year hiatus forced by the coronavirus pandemic, regular international flights were resumed on Sunday with airports and airlines getting ready for normal overseas operations.
As many as 60 airlines from 40 countries have been permitted to operate 1,783 frequencies to/from India during the summer schedule, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The summer schedule will be effective from March 27 till October 29.
A total of 1,466 international departures per week have been approved for six Indian carriers for the summer schedule. They will operate to 43 destinations in 27 countries, as per the DGCA.
The schedule approved by the DGCA provides the maximum number of flights an airline can operate. According to the Times of India, the actual number of flights that are operated depends on “several factors, like demand for travel, financial health of airlines, and operating costs”.
While Indian carriers are prepared for normal international services, various foreign airlines, including Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and LOT Polish have also announced plans about their services to and from India.
Scheduled international passenger flights were suspended on March 23, 2020.
Overseas flights were operated until Saturday under bilateral air bubble arrangements with various countries, which have now been suspended.
Battered by the pandemic, the airline industry is slowly coming back to normalcy and the resumption of normal overseas flights is expected to provide a fillip to the sector.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital, which is also the country’s largest airport, expects international flight departures to witness a significant jump in the first week of April after the resumption of regular international operations.
On March 8, the civil aviation ministry announced that regular overseas flights will resume from March 27 amid a decline in coronavirus cases.
The government has also revised the COVID-19 guidelines for international flight operations, including the removal of the requirement to keep three seats vacant on overseas flights for medical emergencies.
Besides, the requirement for the crew for having a complete PPE kit has been done away with.
In a statement on Saturday, IndiGo Chief Commercial Officer Willy Boulter said the airline is keen on resuming international operations back to pre-COVID levels but that will also depend on factors like arrival guidelines of various countries.
“We certainly have plans to open new destinations in the near future as well as pump up capacity on our existing routes as travel further opens up. Reaching economies of scale in such a dynamic environment where ATF and other fixed costs are constantly going up, becomes challenging,” he said.
Prior to late March 2020, when the scheduled international services were stopped by India, Emirates was operating 170 weekly flights to nine destinations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
(With PTI inputs)