Industry sources had suggested that the government was thinking about restarting regular international flights from March 15, although there had been no official confirmation
India’s travel trade stakeholders is upset with the government’s recent announcement to extend the travel and visa restrictions for travel to India while continuing the suspension of scheduled international commercial flights.
In an order, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced that regular international flights to and from India would not be resumed until further orders. This had come as a huge setback to the aviation and tourism industry.
Industry sources had suggested that the government was thinking about restarting regular international flights from March 15, although there had been no official confirmation.
Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), said that the announcement was a huge setback and frustrating. “We are being restrained from transacting business for our survival especially when the world has opened and removed all protocols to regain tourism. We were very happy to acknowledge that RT-PCR & quarantine protocols for inbound travellers had been done away with for fully vaccinated, but an extension once again on the revival of commercial flights is truly disappointing.
This would be a huge loss for our members and industry which is struggling to survive & revive. Controlling travel and tourism drives a huge loss to the economy of the country. I reiterate that the virus neither needs opening of borders nor boarding cards to travel. We would request Ministry of Civil Aviation to quickly hold a discussion with Health, Tourism Ministry & the industry stakeholders to discuss constraints and challenges to be able to resolve their apprehensions and move forward progressively,” she said.
“The whole world is opening up and welcoming travellers. India has among the highest vaccination and lowest infection rates in the world. What are we waiting for?”
— Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India
Subhash Goyal, Chairman, STIC Travel Group and President, Confederation of Tourism Professionals said, “We are shocked and disappointed with the announcement to keep the international scheduled flights and visa suspended for another month. The government cannot continue to ignore the travel and tourism industry like this indefinitely. On the one side, the Minister says that the aspiration is to make the country an international aviation hub; on the other, the government continues to keep the borders closed. How can you make a country an international hub like this? We don’t expect airlines to start their operations from the very next day the government lifts the suspension. The airline companies also need their time to plan their schedules, put the flight back into the system to enable distribution by travel agents and other channel partners, and apply for the slots. Government has to announce at least a date to make them start that process.”
Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has appealed to the Prime Minister to make an informed decision and open the Indian skies to international traffic without any further delay. “We are extremely disappointed at the Government decision to suspend scheduled international passenger flights ‘until further orders.’ The entire travel & tourism industry has been crippled over the last 23 months; the government has failed to provide any tangible relief even as thousands of businesses have been bankrupted and lakhs of people have lost their jobs. Travellers are being harassed with sky-high airfares on account of the reduced inventory but none of this seems to matter to the powers that be. Scheduled flights were to resume from December 15 last year but two and a half months later we are still clueless on when that might finally happen. The whole world is opening up and welcoming travellers. India has among the highest vaccination and lowest infection rates in the world. What are we waiting for?” he asked.
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