Suspension of flight operations has been extended till May 17, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular issued today. According to the notice, the move is a part of the third phase of lockdown announced by the Central government. The circular prohibits all domestic passenger flight operations at least till the lockdown is restricted. Apart from this, DGCA said that the ministry has decided to extend the validity of a circular released on April 14 that was issued on the operations related to Scheduled International commercial passenger services, and added that it will remain suspended till May 17 this year. However, DGCA clarified that the restriction is not applied to the international flights approved by DGCA and those for all-cargo operations.
The Ministry of Home Affairs announcing the lockdown also clarified no air travel will be allowed. Having said this, it was also stressed by the DGCA that the government will announce when it is suitable to resume all domestic and international operations. Earlier when the lockdown was announced till May 3, many airlines had announced resumption in bookings to which Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri told the companies that the government will give enough time and proper notice so they can commence bookings for flight tickets. It has also been cleared by the Ministry of Civil Aviation that complete flight operations will only resume once the government is confident that the Coronavirus outbreak has been controlled in the country.
Meanwhile, flights are being used in case of some special purposes and movement within inter and intra-state. The government, in a notification last month, had announced that all medical and veterinary personnel, nurses, lab technicians, para-medical staff, midwives, other hospital support services which includes ambulances as well, and scientists will be permitted to access air travel if required.
In India, the number of COVID-19 positive cases have crossed 37,000 and therefore, a lockdown has been announced third time in a view to control the transmission of the novel Coronavirus.