Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri informed on Sunday that a decision on resuming regular international flights will be reached only after other countries ease their restrictions on the entry of foreign nationals and give the go for incoming flights.
Taking to Twitter, Puri said, “A decision to resume regular international operations will be taken as soon as countries ease restrictions on entry of foreign nationals. Destination countries have to be ready to allow incoming flights.”
The minister also stated that owing to the leap in demand for resumption of scheduled international flights by people who wish to fly abroad due to compelling reasons, he did review the condition of international flight operations around the world, but globally, the situation is far from normal, he concluded.
With regard to the evacuation carried out under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM), Puri notified that around 38,000 inbound Indian citizens returned on around 640 chartered flights. Further, more such flights were being given the go for the same.
“We have let outbound passengers on VBM flights to fly to countries which allow them entry. More than 13500 people have flown out of India”, Puri said, on Twitter.
National carrier Air India said that Indian citizens and OCI cardholders who seek to travel on evacuation flights departing from US and Canada can book their tickets through the Air India website for flights departing from these two countries on or after June 11. It also said that the applicants should be registered with the local embassy or the high commission.
“@airindiain (Air India) has sold another 22000 tickets for flights to US & Canada yesterday (5-6 June). Bookings for Europe & other places will open soon,” Puri said.
