After almost two years, India has announced that it will be resuming international travel. According to India’s Civil Aviation Ministry, the majority of “scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India may be resumed from December 15th”.

The country initially banned all international flights in March of last year in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19. Despite banning all international travel, the country began to establish “travel bubble” style arrangements with several international countries.

The overall aim of the county’s international travel policy at the time was to limit the amount of international flights that were arriving into the country. In an effort to reduce the number of international arrivals, India began to establish international travel corridors with a number of countries. However, during the county’s second wave, many began to question the country’s overall policy towards international travel and its effectiveness.

As it stands, India currently has international travel arrangements with 31 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and the United States of America.

Following the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant called “Omicron”, which has been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a “variant of concern”. The Ministry of Civil Aviation stated that it will be implementing tightened border screening measures across all international airports in the country, mainly due to a growing concern about the new “Omicron” variant of Covid-19.

While the variant was first detected in South Africa, numerous countries such as Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, and Hong Kong are already reporting cases. Despite the announcement of a new variant, India’s Civil Aviation Ministry stated that it will press ahead with the resumption of international flights, with limited services for 14 “high-risk” countries.

The 14 “high-risk” countries include Finland, New Zealand, Botswana, South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Mauritius, Germany, China, France, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe. While flights are still allowed to and from these countries, they will do so in “limited” numbers.

The Civil Aviation Ministry clarified that if a country is considered “high-risk” but also has an active travel-bubble arrangement with India, then “75 per cent of pre-COVID scheduled international flight operations of Indian or foreign carrier or a minimum of seven frequencies per week, whichever is higher, subject to availability of entitlements under bilateral agreements will be permitted.”

• Coinsmart. Europe’s Best Bitcoin and Crypto Exchange.Click Here
• Platoblockchain. Web3 Metaverse Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
• Source: https://aeronewsx.com/india-announces-resumption-of-international-travel/