India to UK flights to resume on Jan 6, clarifies Hardeep Singh Puri

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri clarified that flights from India to the UK would resume on January 6. A day before the minister had stated that flights between India and the UK would resume on January 8. He offered more clarification on Saturday and said that flights from India to the UK would start two days prior, on January 6, while flights from the UK to India would start on January 8.

The minister said that till January 23, only 30 flights would operate between the two countries every week -- 15 by Indian carriers and 15 by the UK carriers.

"Resumption of flights between India & UK: India to UK from 6 Jan 2021. UK to India from 8 Jan 2021. 30 flights will operate every week. 15 each by Indian & UK carriers. This schedule is valid till 23 Jan 2021. Further frequency will be determined after review," he said.

He had also said earlier that the flights to the UK would only operate from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Due to the spread of the mutant coronavirus strain in the UK, the Indian government suspended all flights to the country till December 31. It was then extended till January 7.

Meanwhile, all passengers coming from the UK between January 8 and 30 would be subjected to self-paid COVID-19 tests on arrival.  Moreover, each passenger arriving from the UK would have to bring his or her COVID-19 negative report from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, the SOP stated. It said adequate arrangements should be made for the passengers who will be waiting for their RT-PCR test or its results at the airport. "Passengers testing positive shall be isolated in an institutional isolation facility in a separate (isolation) unit coordinated by the respective state health authorities," the SOP said.

The presence of the new UK variant of the virus has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

Also read: Flights to UK resume from Jan 8, only 15 flights per week till Jan 23

Also read: India extends suspension of UK flights till Jan 7