Unlock 2.0 in India: International flights may resume in July

With Unlock 1.0 set to conclude on June 30, the government is expected to announce fresh guidelines for various sectors, including the aviation industry. After starting domestic flights over a month back with some riders, the government may soon approve air travel on selected international routes from July, IndiaToday.In reported. Prominent routes where air travel may be reinstated include Delhi-New York and Mumbai- New York routes. Besides, private airlines may also be allowed to start operations to the Gulf countries.

Recently, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that regular international flight services could be resumed when the domestic traffic would reach about 50-60 per cent and other countries would open up to international traffic without present conditionalities.

"We can start regular international flights when our domestic traffic reaches about 50-60 per cent and other countries open up to international traffic without present conditionalities," Puri had tweeted.

After two months of long hiatus, domestic flights' operations resumed on May 25 but international flights have continued to remain suspended.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his latest video conference with the states' chief ministers, charted out the final course of action to fights the COVID-19 pandemic. He clearly mentioned that there wouldn't be another lockdown in July.

However, the  Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) guidelines,  which stated that school and educational institutes will be reopened in the Unlock Phase 2, now seems a distant dream as many states are reported a high number of cases. In fact, there's a possibility that some states may even extend the lockdown to combat the coronavirus spread. West Bengal has already extended the lockdown till July 31.

Delhi, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu have the highest caseloads in the country, contributing to 59.3 per cent COVID-19 cases. According to the Union Ministry of Health, there are a total of 4,73,103 cases of coronavirus, out of which 1.86 lakh are active cases, 2.71 recovered/ discharged, and 14,894 dead.

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