The Centre announced on Sunday that it had decided to review its decision to restart scheduled commercial flight operations from December 15 due to the rise of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
On Monday, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V.K. Singh admitted there was “tremendous pressure” from the public to restart full-scale international operations. Singh told ANI, “We are taking all protocols and caution… Anybody coming from outside, especially tourists, are being screened and tested at the airport. Only after checking the results, they are being allowed to go.”
Singh told ANI, “No early decision has been taken to resume scheduled international flights. We were under tremendous pressure for the last two months. With due precautions we have planned to open international flights and still have to ensure that protocols are followed to protect people from the new strain.”
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On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt flights from countries where Omicron infections had been detected.
Several countries have stopped flights from southern Africa, where cases of Omicron infection were detected last week. Israel, Morocco and Japan have suspended all entry to incoming flights.
