The government could take a decision on the resumption of international flights next month though it would depend on a lot of factors, including how the coronavirus situation evolves and the rules for travel put in place by various countries, Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.

“We are confident that in the coming month we will start taking decisions on the resumption of international flights. I do not want to put a timeline here, all stakeholders and travellers need to be taken into confidence," Puri said during a a webinar organised by GMR.

He said many factors need to be considered as a lot of countries have put several conditions. It is not the civil aviation minister alone who can decide on this and there are several others who have to be on board before taking the call, he said.

The country resumed domestic passenger flights from May 25 after a gap of two months amid the coronavirus pandemic. Scheduled international passenger flights, however, continue to remain suspended in India.

“As we have seen recently there is a major state in south India, after we opened up they have ordered the lockdown back. I have seen this happening in other countries. We are trying to ensure that this does not happen,” the minister said.

The Tamil Nadu government had recently decided to impose a lockdown in the capital city of Chennai, starting June 19 for a period of 12 days, in view of the rising number of Covid-19 cases.