Flights between India and Britain set to be suspended till January 7, 2021

NEW DELHI: The government extended suspension of flights to and from the UK by another seven days until January 7 to stem the spread of a more infectious coronavirus strain.

"Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK till 7 January 2021," aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted on Wednesday. "Thereafter, strictly regulated resumption will take place, for which details will be announced shortly."

This could mean a stage-wise restart of flights.



Mandatory institutional quarantine
Passengers arriving from the country could be subjected to mandatory institutional quarantine in India. On Tuesday, Puri announced that India wouldn't be implementing a long-term suspension of UK flights.

India had banned flights to and from the UK between December 23 and 31 after the new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 was detected in that country. As many as 20 people were found to have been infected by the same strain in India - all of them had returned from the UK.

The government has also started tracing all passengers who arrived from the UK since November 25. The suspension led to cancellation of 37 flight pairs to and from the UK operated by four carriers - Air India, Vistara, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. An estimated 11,000 people were booked on these direct flights. The week-long extension will mean a similar number of cancellations.

International flights
The new strain has led to a delay in India's plans to restart regular international operations - that suspension has been extended to January 31. Limited international flights under the air bubble framework and Vande Bharat repatriation arrangements, as well as international cargo flights, will be allowed to operate during the period as before.

India banned regular international and domestic flights in March. Domestic flight operations resumed in May in a staggered manner. Some international flights by Air India were allowed under the Vande Bharat scheme in early May and were later expanded to allow other carriers, including foreign ones, under the bubble arrangement. India has bubble arrangements, which allow limited international flights, with 24 countries.