International passenger flights are expected to normalised very soon, possibly by the end of the year, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said today.

       A restart of scheduled international commercial passenger flights would increase travel options for passengers and foster lower fares. The move comes following reopening of India’s borders to foreign tourists from November 15 and amid pressure from travel firms, foreign governments and members of Indian diaspora.

       At present scheduled international passenger flights are suspended till November 30. At present flights are being operated under air transport bubble agreements. While these are also scheduled flights, airlines are allowed to sell onward tickets to only a limited number of destinations. In case of certain countries, bubble agreements allow for only point to point traffic. While the government has asserted it wants a return to normalcy its decision would also be guided by Covid-19 situation in certain parts of the world.

       The number of international flights operating to/from India now are around 40-45 per cent of the pre-pandemic period.

       In the winter schedule of 2019 there were around 1200 daily international flights. On November 23, 495 international flights were operated to/from India and these carried over 75,000 passengers.

       The number of destinations linked with India too has halved. In the winter schedule India had direct air connectivity with around 60 countries. At present India has signed air transport bubbles allowing for two way traffic with 31 countries. Even under the bubble agreement the actual capacity deployed or flights operated is lower than pre-pandemic period. For instance, Indian and UAE airlines can offer 33,600 weekly seats each between India and Dubai (which is the busiest international destination from India). Prior to the pandemic carriers were allowed to operate over 65,000 seats each. Airlines however have increased flights between India and Sharjah as there is no agreement on allowing more capacity to Dubai.

       Last week travel agents wrote to the government to restart scheduled international passenger flights to enable foreign tourists to visit India. “Airfares on the limited bubble flights have increased multifold and airlines too are ensuring that higher fare categories are being sold. Many international airlines had accepted bookings for future dates and are now cancelling these flights causing further inconvenience to travellers at large. Similarly, for Indian students there is a big challenge to return to their colleges in Europe, UK, US, Canada etc,” said the Travel Agents Association of India in a letter to civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

       Those planning to return to India during Christmas break or early January too are facing challenges in getting seats. Flights are either sold out and fares have zoomed up. For instance demand on the US-India route began picking up in September and fights started filling up after both countries announced border restrictions in October.

       “Return economy airfare from the US to India (for travel in December and January ) ranges anywhere from $ 2500 - $ 3500 on average. Pre-pandemic times, economy class fares were in the range of $ 1800 -2200 during high season,” said Arvin Shah, chairman of US-based Sky Bird Travels & Tours. According to Shah, demand for travel between US and India is led by leisure and visiting and family relatives segments. There is no demand for corporate travel as of now, he added.