India bans international flights till July 31, DGCA to allow some planes on select routes

[Kool_SRG]

• India suspended all the domestic and international flight services in the last week of March amid coronavirus outbreak
• Air India and several other private domestic airlines have been operating flights under Vande Bharat Mission

 

In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today has decided to suspend all the international flight operations in the country till July 31. Earlier, the aviation regulator had cancelled the international flights till July 15. However, the DGCA may permit international flights on some selected routes during this period. "The international scheduled flights may be allowed on select routes on case-to-case basis," said the aviation regulator.

India suspended all the domestic and international flight services in the last week of March. The domestic flights have started operations in limited routes after a gap of two months in May. The domestic airlines have ferried close to two million passengers since then, a senior government official earlier said.

The international passenger flight services in the country will resume in a phased manner during 'Unlock 2.0', the ministry of home affairs said on Monday. "International air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat mission. Further opening up will take place in a calibrated manner," the central government said in a statement.

To bring back the stranded Indians from across the world, the central government started Vande Bharat Mission on May 7. Air India and several other private domestic airlines have been operating flights under this repatriation mission. Over 4.75 lakh Indians have returned to India from abroad since it has started, the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday.

"As on July 1, against a total number of 5,83,109 people who registered their requests with our missions abroad for repatriation to India, over 4,75,000 have returned under this mission," ministry of external affairs Anurag Srivastava said.

The Vande Bharat Mission has entered its fourth phase from Thursday onwards. "Under Phase-IV of the Vande Bharat Mission, we will be operating more than 500 flights. This includes both Air India and private carriers who are ramping up their operations in a big way," Srivastava said.

In a tweet, the civil aviation Ministry said, "Private Airlines will have significant participation in Phase-4 of VBM. Among others, IndiGo will operate 238 flights from Qatar & 219 flights from Kuwait; while GoAir will operate 41 flights from Kuwait. Number of pvt carriers, flights & destinations likely to increase."

Under the fourth phase of the mission, Air India will send 114 flights to 17 countries across the world. These countries are Canada, the US, the UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine and Vietnam.

VFS Global, a visa outsourcing and technology services provider for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, is all set to resume visa application services in India. Travellers will be able to apply for specific visa categories for Belarus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, and United Kingdom.

"After specific embassies or consulates, as well as local authorities have given their approval, VFS Global's centres will accept visa applications for select countries and visa categories in specific cities," the company said in a statement.

[Kool_SRG]

 

 

 

 

[tom brady]

Siggu leni yedhavalu

[Jilchika]

Assuming avg. ticket price of $1000, AI would have made close to $475 million on these flights 😀 

[manadonga]

Ayina india vallu enduku chesadu 

andaru india ni cheyyali kani 

[jetwings]

1 hour ago, Jilchika said:

Assuming avg. ticket price of $1000, AI would have made close to $475 million on these flights 😀 

Air India is public sector, loss making company bro.. (2018-19 its was -4600 cr)

Let them try .. 

[Android_Halwa]

2 hours ago, Jilchika said:

Assuming avg. ticket price of $1000, AI would have made close to $475 million on these flights 😀 

With majority of its planes sitting idle on the runway and increased cost of operation, Air India is actually losing money by operating such flights..Used to run hundreds of flights and had monopoly on sectors which unfortunately does not contribute anything  now..

These are special flights and cost of operating such flights is high. 

Thank to Air India that they are operating much needed flights for emergency travelers.

 

[xano917]

9 minutes ago, Android_Halwa said:

With majority of its planes sitting idle on the runway and increased cost of operation, Air India is actually losing money by operating such flights..Used to run hundreds of flights and had monopoly on sectors which unfortunately does not contribute anything  now..

These are special flights and cost of operating such flights is high. 

Thank to Air India that they are operating much needed flights for emergency travelers.

 

Not nammable 

[perugu_vada]

Flights penchithe baundu, family medical emergency undi not able to go to Ind vallu chala mandhi unnaru papam

[psycopk]

Dabulu nomataniki kota routes.. digusting country for a reason

[manadonga]

Migata airlines ki enduku chance ivvadam ledu same guideline to 

us and gulf lo chalamandi tickets dorakaka 

ibbandi padutunaru 

[batman2]

17 minutes ago, Android_Halwa said:

With majority of its planes sitting idle on the runway and increased cost of operation, Air India is actually losing money by operating such flights..Used to run hundreds of flights and had monopoly on sectors which unfortunately does not contribute anything  now..

These are special flights and cost of operating such flights is high. 

Thank to Air India that they are operating much needed flights for emergency travelers.

 

during early stages AI flight was sent to china. if there was no AI then no private airlines would have agreed to go to china in those circumstances

[psycopk]

Airindia fuckked up travel experience

We travelled to India from SFO-DEL and then DEL-CHE about a week ago. Few imp points I wanted to share...
1. No social distancing in our AI flight and middle seat passengers were mandated to wear white  protective overall covering along with mask and full face shield. 
2. Food would already be packed in a plastic bag and kept for your 16hrs flight. Two meal sets and a snack set. 2 litres of water per passenger in bottles. Small sachets of hand sanitizers. 
3. No service will be provided by crew members
4. No entertainment services are available so make sure you have something to engage yourself/family for the 16hrs flight. 
5. MOST IMPORTANT!!!
The restrooms were limited. They had blocked all the restrooms and let us use only one for the entire flight full  of passengers. So within 2hrs of flight departure rest room situation was horrible. No tissues. No sanitization. Unable to use it. So please be aware of this!!!! 
6. Once you are out of the flight. You need to form groups of 30 or so led by Airport officials and they will help you through with next steps. 
7. If you have kids younger than 10yrs old or of you have a preexisting severe health condition or if you have a death in the family or if you are a pregnant woman, then NO NEED to quarantine in Delhi. You will be allowed to goto your final destination. So please make sure you book your connecting domestic flight as well before you board your SFO-DEL AI flight as well they will verify all those details. 
8. Domestic flights allow only one checked in baggage per person. So you will be charged extra on a per kg basis for your second checked in luggage. Beware of this. 
Hope I covered all points. Also rules keep relaxing or changing with every other VBM flights so I just shared my personal experience here. All the best for your travel. Hope this helps to clarify a few basic doubts at least.

[batman2]

nevertheless AI should be privatized. not govt business to run airlines

[user789]

2 hours ago, Jilchika said:

Assuming avg. ticket price of $1000, AI would have made close to $475 million on these flights 😀 

avg is $1500-$1800 one way