Country's aviation safety regulator DGCA on Thursday extended the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger flights to December 31. The restrictions, however, will not apply on international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), an official circular said.
"In partial modification of circular dated 26.6.2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the subject cited above regarding scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hours (IST) of December 31, 2020," the DGCA said in the circular.
International scheduled flights, however, may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis, the circular added.
The suspension of international commercial passenger flights from/to India, which has been in place since March 23 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, was to expire on November 30.
In the absence of regular flight service on overseas routes, special international flights are being operated under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral "air bubble" arrangements with selected countries since July.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday issued guidelines on COVID-19 surveillance, containment and caution, which will start from December 1, 2020 and will be in place till December 31, 2020. The MHA has said that in addition to guidelines already established last month, states and Union Territories, based on their assessment of the situation, may impose local restrictions, such as a night curfew. However, the MHA has said that state governments shall not impose any local lockdown outside the containment zones, without prior consultation with the Union government.