International flights remain suspended till July 15, says Govt

Commercial International flights to and from India will continue to remain suspended till July 15, the Director General of Civil Aviation has announced.

"Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India shall remain suspended till 23:59 hours IST of 15th July,2020...  However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case to case basis," a circular released by the DGCA read.

This restriction will not apply to International cargo operations and flights approved by the aviation regulator.

As the country went into complete lockdown in March to cointain the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, all passenger flight services were suspended. On May 25, domestic flights resumed.

Expressing hope that domestic flights will be restored to their full capacity by the end of the year, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week said that the resumption of international flights depended on other countries being open to receiving flights.

The Central government is currently running the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians who are starnded in various foreign countries. In a tweet that was posted on June 24, Mr Puri said a total of 97,000 people have been brought back in three phases of the operation.