Keypoints:
- Flights between India & UK will resume from January 8, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.
- Operations till January 23 will be restricted to 15 flights per week each for carriers of the two countries to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Hyderabad only, the Civil Aviation Minister said.
On Friday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that flights between India & UK will resume from January 8.The flights were suspended after the mutated strain of coronavirus wreaked havoc across the island nation last month.
In a statement, Puri said that “It has been decided that flights between India & UK will resume from 8th January, 2021. Operations till 23 Jan will be restricted to 15 flights per week each for carriers of two countries to & from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Hyderabad only.”
It has been decided that flights between India & UK will resume from 8 Jan 2021.
Operations till 23 Jan will be restricted to 15 flights per week each for carriers of the two countries to & from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Hyderabad only. @DGCAIndia will issue the details shortly— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 1, 2021
Until January 23, only 15 flights per week have been approved for airlines of both countries. Flight operations will be allowed to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad only, Puri mentioned.
Currently, Air India and Vistara operate flights to the United Kingdom. British Airlines and Virgin Atlantic operate flights to India. DGCA is expected to announce the division of alloacted 15 flights between the Indian airlines shortly.
The limit of 15 flights per week for each country’s carriers means that Indian airlines will get 15 flights per week and British air carriers will operate 15 flights per week. This arrangement will remain in force from January 8 to 23.
“Passengers arriving in these flights from January 8 onward will be asked to take mandatory RT PCR tests on arrival and those found negative will be made to sign undertakings for mandatory home quarantine for a week. We are reviewing the status, our assumption is the restrictions on flights to UK may be extended further till the end of the month,” a senior official said
“I foresee a slight extension of the temporary suspension. I don’t expect that extension to be a long or indefinite extension. In the next day or two, we will find out if any additional steps need to be taken, or when we can start easing the current temporary suspension”, Puri added.
So far, 29 cases of people in India have tested positive for the new and highly infectious strain of coronavirus including four cases that were detected on Friday.
