Covid Curbs Relaxed, Regular Flights Likely To Resume In A Month

Last updated on Jun 6th, 2023 by Ankita Awasthi

A government official who wishes to report anonymously has shared that the regular overseas flight regulations, which were suspended since March 2020, are scheduled to resume as per the old travel rules within a month. The aviation ministry has been discussing it with health officials and has been mulling an upcoming date, possibly March 15th or the end of March, which is when the summer schedule will be revealed.

Repealing Of Restrictions

It’s an immense relief for international travelers, as the loosening of global standards regarding testing, quarantine and other procedures after the relaxation of Omicron has raised the need and the demand to travel once more.

Air Bubble and Fare Consequences

We were previously informed- that India had decided to schedule and operate along with 40 other nations as “special passenger flights. “special passengers flight.” In July 2020, the agreement between India as well as the other 40 nations was deemed to be the air bubble agreement. However, because of the fact that there are fewer flights within this air bubble, costs have gone up significantly for the summer.

Citizen Feedback

1. An ex-banker in Delhi, Richa Gupta, has been wanting to reserve flight tickets to an overseas country this summer in order to spend time with her son who is studying in Boston. “The rates currently are 1.07 lakh for a return flight on the American airline’s economy. In January of last year, we booked this flight for a return flight of Rs 60,000. In December, our son flew from Delhi and then back for the sum of Rs 1.6 lakh, when Omicron had reached its highest. The situation is improving; it should reflect in the prices as well,” the lady shared.
2. “Announcing the dates of reopening will let airlines gradually include more flights on the reservation system. After that, an increase in supply will result in lower prices,” Richa further shared.
3. Anil Kalsi, a leading travel agent based in Delhi, has stated, “With India removing the Covid-related tests and quarantine limitations and quarantine restrictions, there has been a significant increase of reservations coming from foreign countries, especially Australia. Prices have increased by up to 50 percent. In the short term, seats are being sold at prices of up to 1 lakh rupees. 1.2 lakh for the economy class.”

Consequences Then Vs. Consequences Now

Certain regions of Australia have particularly gotten its value way higher in the market than usual. This is a perfect example of a market that is seeing an explosive increase in costs of airfares due to the slow demand triggered by the lifting of restrictions.

Prior to that, the international flights scheduled for the 23rd day of March 2020 were canceled abruptly. The intention was to resume slowly on December 15th, 2021. However, the growing amount of Omicron cases stopped the process from happening according to the plan. The travel industry hopes India returns to its normal flights based on a deal to accept each other’s vaccine certifications without further delay.

Airlines’ Comment & Outcome Prediction 

“We believed this would happen in the months of August and September after the Delta variant was at its lowest. But the delay was to the point that by the time it was due to occur, Omicron had set in. It is important to not be losing this window,” an airline official said.

December 15th’s announcement of reopening has resulted in the affected international nations’ classification into three distinct groups. The information was made to put the stage for a gradual but steady return to normal. The anticipated outcomes for this are assumed to be within the interval of 100% of the pre-Covid threshold to 50%, depending on whether a country is in danger of being a victim or not.

New Guidelines For India Travel

1. Effective February 14th, 2022, India eliminated the ‘at-risk’ classification from travel restrictions/regulations. It replaced it with a list of nations or regions in which those who have been fully vaccinated are allowed to fly with no previous testing.
2. The requirement of a seven-day quarantine at home for all of the seven days and the requirement to undergo tests for RT-PCR on the 8th day were also removed.

As the rules are eased on, the next step that isn’t just anticipated but is an intelligent move to make at the right moment is to resume regular flights. It could happen in the near-term future.

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About Ankita | View Posts

Ankita Awasthi has been a content writer for over half a decade now. She seeks to satiate her writing urge by charting creative blogs with up-to-the-minute information. In true wordsmith spirit, she believes that a creative head never sleeps! Her blogs constantly aspire to inspire readers to live their travel dream. Her writing genre covers Indian tourism destinations, offbeat locales and travel guides with focus on its rich art history, culture, heritage, nature trails and travelling attributes.