Page 3 - International Flights

Indians travelling to Saudi Arabia no longer need police clearance for visa

The Saudi embassy in India tweeted they have removed the visa requirement for police clearance certificate for Indians

China eases Zero-Covid policy, removes curbs on international flights

China has trimmed the quarantine time for inbound travellers and scrapped curbs on international flights, as it began to ease its stringent Zero-COVID policy. The new rules were announced following the first meeting of the newly elected seven-member Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC) headed by Xi Jinping here on Thursday. The Standing Committee is the highest policy-making and implementation body of the CPC. On the domestic front, China has adjusted quarantine requirements for close contacts of confirmed cases from seven days of centralised quarantine plus three days of health observation at home to five days of quarantine plus three days of observation. No "circuit breaker" on overseas inbound flights to China upon detecting positive cases on board, state-run Global Times tweeted on Friday. Under the circuit breaker policy, Chinese aviation officials arbitrarily suspend international flights for a prolonged period if any passengers tested positive fo

Direct flights between India, China should restart: Chinese envoy

Direct flights between India and China should start, and the governments of the two countries must work together on this, Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Zha Liyou said. Flight services between the two neighbours have been disrupted ever since coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan in late 2019, and subsequently spread across the world. The flight disruption posed a major challenge for hundreds of Indian students as well as families of Indians working in China and businessmen, though Beijing recently lifted the visa ban after about three years. "Direct air connectivity between India and China should start and both governments should work towards this. A number of Indian students are now keen to return to China," Liyou said at a press briefing on Wednesday evening. About 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine who were stranded back home due to China's COVID visa bans, made preparations to travel to China to rejoin their colleges but experienced difficulties due to the .

Vistara cancels 14 int'l flights due to delay in delivery of B787 aircraft

Vistara had bought six Dreamliners from Boeing in 2018 but has received only two from the American plane-maker

Virgin Atlantic pulls out of Hong Kong; cancels flights, closes offices

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. hasn't operated any passenger flights to Hong Kong since December, after the city banned all flights from the UK during the depths of Covid

Air India plans raising $1 bn; to start 20 weekly international flights

The carrier, controlled by India's oldest conglomerate Tata Group, is in discussions with potential investors including private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds, said the people

Tourist arrivals may just be a third of pre-pandemic levels this year

Rajiv Mehra, head of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), stated that he does not anticipate inbound foreign visitors to surpass 35 per cent of pre-Covid levels until March 31

International travellers with monkeypox symptoms to be sent to LNJP: Report

International travellers arriving in Delhi with monkeypox symptoms such as high fever and back pain will be sent to the LNJP Hospital from the airport, sources said on Monday. The decision was taken in a review meeting chaired by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Monday, they said. The Delhi government on Monday asked district authorities and officials concerned to adhere to the Centre's guidelines on management of the infection, which also state that referral arrangements from airport/port to identified link hospital need to be established or strengthened. The sources said that those travellers having symptoms like high fever, back pain and joint pain at the IGI Airport will be sent to the isolation ward at LNJP Hospital, which has a special 20-member team to deal with such patients. The samples of suspected patients will be sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, while the district administration will quarantine the family members and carry out contact tracing of

UDAN international plan under a cloud as AirAsia India fails to get permit

CBI case prompts the authorities to bar low-cost airline from proceeding on bids it won for regional air connectivity project

Airlines cancel, reschedule London flights as Heathrow restrictions kick in

The move to limit passengers comes as Heathrow Airport struggles to cope with a surge in passenger traffic

Govt issues corrigendum to withdraw excise on ATF for international flights

Indian Oil had begun levying 11% duty following a govt notification; ATF accounts for 40% of an airline's operating expenses

Our expansion plans will take a hit due to ATF duty, say airlines

ATF accounts for around 40 per cent of an airline's operating expenses

Punjab CM calls for direct flights from Mohali airport to US, Canada

This initiative will facilitate the Punjabi diaspora settled abroad to visit their native places in the state in a seamless manner, he said

New Zealand reopens to international tourists after two-yr hiatus

Now, people from more than 60 countries can now enter the country if they are vaccinated against the virus and are also Covid negative, the BBC reported

Australia's Qantas unveils plans for new non-stop international flights

The carrier, which has been working on endurance flying under Project Sunrise for years, announced that it is ordering 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to service the routes, reports Xinhua news agency

Ethiopian Airlines to boost India flights, eyes higher traffic from BRICS

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest carrier in Africa, is allowed to operate 35 flights per week to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Privatised Air India loses priority in international traffic rights

DGCA drops clause that gave the airline an edge over other private ones in the amended rules issued on April 19

Qatar Airways, IndiGo reactivate codeshare partnership signed in 2019

In a codeshare partnership, each carrier on its distribution system can sell seats of other's flights

Air traffic likely to soar as regular foreign flights take wing after 2 yrs

Development marks end of air bubbles which came into being in mid-2020. Over 115,000 passengers flew in and out of India on 667 flights under this mechanism on Saturday

It's an important day as regular international flights resumed: Scindia

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said regular international flight services, which were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic for the last two years, resumed with full capacity