Category Archives: Aviation

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released latest guidelines for international arrivals from 11th Jan, 2022, under which all international arrivals to India to undergo mandatory home quarantine for 7 days. This must be followed by a RT-PCR test to be carried out on 8th day, and the report has to be uploaded on the Air Suvidha portal. All arriving passengers must have ‘Arogya Setu’ App downloaded on their smartphones. Before travelling they have to upload a self-declaration form and a negative RTPCR report of test conducted 72 hr prior to travel. Those arriving from at risk countries have to go for a COVID test at the point of arrival. If negative they will go for 7 day home quarantine and undertake RTPCR test on 8th day, the result of which has to be uploaded on Air Suvidha portal.

As a result of a recent study by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), total passenger numbers are expected to reach 2.3B in 2021 and grow to 3.4B in 2022, which is comparable to 2014 levels. It is expected that airlines will offer lower prices, better seats, and longer flights by 2022.

Pune airport in Lohegaon is expected to start international flight from January 7 with flight for Sharjah. The international flight operations at Pune airport were completely shut since March 2020 due to the Covid outbreak. Flight for Sharjah may take off from Pune International Airport on January 7, we are waiting for final confirmation. Airport is ready to resume international flight operations. Before the first lockdown, Pune airport had two international flights to Dubai which were operated by SpiceJet and Air India Express.

The Centre has mandated pre-booking of RT-PCR tests from December 20. In the first phase, it will be applicable to those arriving at six airports —Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad—for passengers arriving from “at-risk” countries or those who have been in such countries in the preceding 14 days. The Air Suvidha portal would be modified to allow passengers to pre-book.

Swiss International Airlines will be restoring the services from Mumbai to Zurich in India from 12th January 2022. The flights were suspended in view of pandemic developments earlier. “Provided all necessary approvals are obtained, we indeed plan to resume the Mumbai-Zurich route on 12 January 2022”, revealed Swiss International Airline official. The airline is to further expand its range of scheduled services next summer and will be adding six new destinations to its European route network.

The Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia recently took stock of the preparedness, testing capacities, and the situation on the ground with regards to crowd management at both private and AAI airports. He tweeted, “Have put an action plan with 8 compliances on immigration queues, expanding RT-PCR service providers, ramping up help desks and forex counters, along with seamless floor management. Rest assured, MoCA  is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and passengers shall not face any inconvenience at airports.”

Average economy class fares on flights of Air India, United Airlines and Lufthansa, operating under the ‘air bubble’ arrangement currently, are comparable to the average fares of pre-pandemic era, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh has said. Since July last year, India has formed bilateral air bubble arrangements with around 31 countries so that special international pax flights could be operated.

All international passengers arriving in India are mandated to declare their current health status prior to boarding on the Air Suvidha Portal. Ministry of Civil Aviation has mandated contact-less self-declaration at ‘Air Suvidha Portal’ for international passengers. This portal developed by MoCA aids passengers in providing their details of travel and final stay along with RT-PCR, vaccination status etc.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, told in Lok Sabha that India has sent a proposal to ten countries, including Saudi Arabia, Australia, and New Zealand, that is still pending. While India already has air bubble agreements with a total of 31 countries. International passenger flights are currently being operated in a restricted manner under bilateral air bubble arrangements with various countries.

IATA issued a statement that, “Governments are reacting in an emergency mode to the risks posed by the new coronavirus variant, causing panic among travellers. We must move as quickly as possible to a coordinated data-driven approach to find safe alternatives to border closures and quarantine, based on the lessons learned over the last two years. Travel bans aren’t a long-term solution for COVID variant control.”