Which countries can Indians travel to? Here’s how your global travel plans are impacted

The flights to Maldives, US etc have now faded. (Representative image/ Reuters photo)

Air travel bans to India increase day by day! Amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic across the globe and the surge of new cases in the country, many nations have introduced travel bans to and from India, resulting in a pullback in domestic flights, which make up the vast majority of the market. Recently, several countries have implemented travel bans such as- Singapore, Australia, the UK, the UAE, Canada, France etc. Earlier, this week, in a statement, the US had asked its citizens to leave India as soon as possible. In a Level 4 travel advisory the State Department further advised its citizens not to travel to India. At present, there are around 14 direct daily flights between India and the US and others that connect through Europe.

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— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) April 30, 2021

According to a report published in Indian Express, an analysis of data done by Bloomberg, the airlines in India had reached 87 per cent of their pre-COVID seat capacity since early April. The data further showed that the capacity had fallen to 71 percent of 2019 levels, which is around 16 per cent drop within a month.

The report further added, Rob Morris, the head of consultancy at UK aviation advisory firm Cirium, told Bloomberg that an upturn in India’s aviation industry would not take place until the new wave of pandemic is contained.

Before the recent COVID-19 outbreak, India’s domestic aviation industry was one of the world’s fastest growing. Indigo propelled India to the third largest market in the world. Last year, the airlines were permitted for strict maintenance of social distancing rules and to follow the COVID guidelines while flying. However, now due to surge in recent cases across the states with daily cases exceeding 3 lakh, has worsened the situation-leading to the breakdown of the health machinery such as the shortages of medicine, oxygen, beds etc.

The wake of the latest outbreaks in India have already spilled over into the connected markets across the globe. The flights to Maldives, US etc have now faded.

During the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, India had stopped the regular international travel rules that would typically see many long-distance passengers routed through connecting hubs such as Doha and Dubai.

On Thursday, Doha introduced a travel guidelines for its visitors from India which include RT-PCR negative test report in English within 48 hours of the scheduled flight departure from an ICMR certified lab and to undergo 10 days of Hotel quarantine in a dedicated facility among others.