DGCA Extends International Flight Travel Ban To July 31, May Allow Some Exceptions

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday decided to extend the ban on all international flight operations in the country from July 15 to 31.

However, the DGCA may allow certain international flights “on select routes on case-to-case basis.”

Domestic flights have resumed on select routes since May and close to two million passengers have travelled since then.

The Vande Bharat Mission has brought back over 4.75 lakh Indians from abroad so far.

“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 spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

The Vande Bharat mission is set for its fourth phase, when more than 500 flights will be operated. Apart from Air India, private players like IndiGo will operate 238 flights from Qatar and 219 from Kuwait, while GoAir will operate 41 flights from Kuwait.

Air India will be operating 114 flights to 17 countries — Canada, the US, the UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine and Vietnam.