While the resumption of international flights may take some time, Air India will start ticket bookings from June 5 at 5 pm onwards for destinations in the US and Canada. This will take place under the Vande Bharat Mission’s third phase which will ferry stranded people to several destinations in the US between June 9 and June 30.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, “Normal international civil aviation operations will start only when they can. Right now, most of our metro cities are under some form of restrictions due to which people from other cities cannot travel to catch flights and we also have requirements for mandatory quarantine on arrival.”
“We have to wait for the domestic operations to touch about 50-60% and consider the behaviour of the virus and its spread to fully lift these restrictions and Lockdown. Till then flights under Vande Bharat Mission are facilitating both inbound & outbound international passengers,” added the Minister.
The 7 international destinations for which the bookings will be opened are:
-New York
-Newark
-Washington
-Chicago
-San Francisco
-Toronto
-Vancouver
According to the MHA guidelines, international flights can resume in the third phase of unlocking. In the first phase of unlocking, religious places, malls, restaurants will open. In the second phase of unlocking, educational institutions will be opened only after consultations with the stakeholders.
