India will keep its ban on scheduled international passenger flights till 31 January in the wake of emerging threat from the Omicron variant, aviation regulator DGCA said on Thursday.
In partial modification to the earlier order, it has been decided to extend the suspend the scheduled international commercial passenger flights to and from India till 31 January, DGCA said in a statement.
However, the restrictions will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specially approved by the regulator.
International scheduled flights may also be allowed on select routes on a case to case basis.
The scheduled international flights were supposed to start from 15 December, but keeping in view the nature of Omicron variant, the government has decided to hold the plan.
Change in Travel Rules
International passengers travelling to India will now need to mandatorily declare their current health status on the Air Suvidha portal before boarding their flight. This updated rule has been announced by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As per the latest reports, the exemption forms from the said portal have been discontinued for the time being.
As such, passengers would be required to submit a copy of the passport, their vaccination certificate, and their RT-PCR negative test that should have been conducted within 72 hours of departure. For immigration, a copy received in e-mail will be essential on arrival in India, which has to be verified at the APHO counter. Further, those travelling from ‘at-risk’ countries, will be required to undergo a test on arrival too; the same can be pre-booked by clicking on the testing facility link.
As of now, following steps are to be followed by international passengers travelling to India.
- They will be required to submit a self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha portal.
- On the portal, they will also need to submit a negative RT-PCR test report; the test should have been conducted within 72 hours before the journey.
- Further, they will be required to undergo a self-paid COVID-19 test on arrival at the airport.
- Passengers are also advised to undergo home quarantine for 7 days.
- Also, post-arrival COVID-19 testing is mandatory for travellers from at-risk countries like Europe, the United Kingdom, Botswana, South Africa, Mauritius, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Israel, Tanzania, China, Ghana, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
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(With input from news agency language)
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