The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Wednesday indicated scheduled international flight services would not resume on December 15, due to concern over the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The ministry of civil aviation had announced on November 26 that scheduled international services, suspended since March 2020, would resume from December 15.
There had been fears that spread of Omicron would hamper plans to resume full-scale commercial operations. Some figures, notably Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had called on the government to suspend flights from countries affected by Omicron.
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In a circular, DGCA director of regulations and information Neeraj Kumar said “In view of the evolving global scenario with the emergence of new variants of concern, the situation is being watched closely in consultation with all stakeholders and an appropriate decision indicating the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services shall be notified in due course.”
A senior DGCA official told The Indian Express the circular means “as of now, the December 15 date is being kept in abeyance”.
