Regular international flights will resume from December 15

Regular international flights will resume from December 15.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday said that commercial international flights to and from India will resume from December 15. The decision was taken in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Those familiar with the development said Friday that the center will resume regular international flights from December 15, except in 14 countries. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Singapore are not included in the list.

The decision was taken in consultation with the Ministry of Health in the light of the Govt situation around the world, especially in the light of the emergence of new species. On Thursday, South Africa confirmed a new variant of the corona virus, which is believed to be highly contagious and vaccine-avoidable. This variation has been reported not only in South Africa but also in Botswana and Hong Kong.

India has not resumed regular international flights with Botswana and South Africa.

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Countries that are 'at risk', but do not have 'air bubble' agreements with India, will be allowed to restart 50 per cent of bilateral capacity rights, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

International passenger flights scheduled between India and other countries may return to normal.

The decision to reopen planned international passenger traffic comes amid concerns about the B.1.1.529 strain first detected in South Africa and Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong.

As governments struggle to stop the new variation, Germany and Italy have joined Britain in banning most travel from South Africa. In a sign of growing caution, the EU has proposed a separate plan to ban travel from South Africa.

Researchers are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the severity of the disease.

Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia also recently expressed the ministry's interest in launching regular international travel operations. "We are evaluating the process. We are returning to normal. First, we allowed 100% passenger capacity on our domestic flights, and now we allow food on board on those flights," Jyotiraditya Scindia said at an industry summit.