India Delays Resumption of Regular International Flights Due to Omicron Impact

Children are playing soccer in front of the Taj Mahal replica building in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, central India, on the 25th of last month (local time).

The Indian government has postponed the scheduled resumption of regular international flights on the 15th of this month amid rising concerns over the spread of the new COVID-19 variant, 'Omicron.'

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India announced on the 1st through an official letter that this decision was made considering the global spread of the new COVID-19 variant.

The DGCA added, "We will notify the schedule for the resumption of regular civil international flights at an appropriate time."

Accordingly, the resumption of regular international flights, which have been suspended since late March last year, has effectively been postponed until early next year.

Currently, flight operations in India are only permitted for domestic routes, repatriation flights for Indian nationals, special flights operated by various countries themselves, and bilateral regular flights under 'Air Bubble' agreements.

Earlier, on the 26th of last month, the Indian government had announced plans to resume regular international flights starting from the 15th of this month.

The Omicron variant is known to be much more transmissible than the Delta variant, which severely affected India and other countries this year, and has been detected in over 20 countries including South Africa, Israel, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium.

However, the Indian government has not implemented measures to block entry from South Africa and neighboring countries.

In India, suspected cases of Omicron variant infection have emerged and are under detailed investigation, but no confirmed infections have been reported yet.

India experienced a massive outbreak in early May, with daily new cases exceeding 410,000, but recently this number has fallen below 10,000.