International flights unlikely to reopen fully soon

Official cites strict visa regime, poor demand

The Government is unlikely to allow full resumption of international flights in the near future as it believes that demand for foreign travel is still tepid, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The clarity comes at a time it is widely believed in the tourism and travel industry that the Government could reopen international flights fully after it to those arriving on chartered planes from October 15 and on non-chartered planes from November 15.

“The current frequencies available under the bubble arrangements are adequate to meet the demand. There isn’t much demand for international routes, as the visa regime is very restrictive. On certain sectors such as the U.S. and Canada, airlines have 30% to 40% load factors [seat occupancy] for mid-December 2021. We can surely consider opening once the demand nears the pre-COVID-19 levels,” Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, told The Hindu.