The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) increased the ban on international commercial flights to and from India till 28th February. The DGCA said in a notification that “The authority has decided to extend the suspension of scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till 23:59 hours IST of February 28, 2022. This ban will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA, and flights under Air Bubble agreement will not be affected.”

India has an air transport bubble pact with Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine, UAE, UK, US and Uzbekistan. The agreement allows both-way air travel under some terms and conditions.

Last month, the DGCA had extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till January 31, 2022. And earlier, India had declared plans to allow international passenger flights from December 15, 2021, with some conditions. But on December 1, 2021, DGCA said it is closely monitoring the situation happening due to the Omicron variant of Coronavirus and the final decision on restarting the international flights will be taken after discussions with stakeholders.