The latest advisory issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) states that “it has been decided that all scheduled international commercial passenger services shall remain closed until 1830 hours (GMT) of April 14, 2020.”
However, the restriction will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights approved by DGCA.
This move came after Prime Minister, Narendra announced on March 24 that India would be under lockdown for the next three weeks – a necessary step to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, on March 19, the DCGA had issued an advisory stating that no international commercial passenger flight operations will take place in India from March 23 to March 29.
The Indian government has already suspended all domestic passenger flight operations from March 24 (midnight).
Business Traveller India also reported that Indian aviation industry could incur a staggering loss of $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak, as per a report by CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) India, if flights remain halted until June-end.
