The suspension of scheduled international commercial flights has been extended till September 30, sector regulator DGCA said.

However, scheduled flights under the travel bubbles India has started with several countries such as the US, the UK, Germany and France will be allowed and people eligible under government norms can fly to and from India in these flights.

“The competent authority has decided to extend (suspension of scheduled international passenger flights to/from India) till 11.59 pm of September 30, 2020. This restriction shall not apply to international all cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the directorate general of civil aviation,” the DGCA said in a statement.

“However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis,” the regulator added.

India has so far created air bubbles with the USA, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar and Maldives. India is in talks with many more countries to create air bubbles like Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan.

The idea of these bubbles is to ensure continuity of travel between India and these countries by eligible categories of people till normal scheduled flights resumes.

Scheduled international passenger services continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements with other countries since July.

The regulator said the suspension does not affect the operation of international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA.

Rating agency ICRA said in a research report that the domestic aviation industry operated at a passenger load factor of 55 percent in July as against 86.3 percent in the same month last year, when demand had remained poor.

“ICRA maintains that H2 FY21 will witness some recovery, with Q4 FY21 witnessing year-on-year de-growth of just 3-14 percent in domestic passenger traffic with improved PLFs (passenger load factor), and overall FY21 witnessing 41-46 percent de-growth in domestic passenger traffic,” it said.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that 2020 is the worst year in aviation history, and airlines in the Asia-Pacific region alone are expected to report losses to the tune of $29 billion. Indian carriers are estimated to lose revenues of $11.61 billion during 2020 compared with 2019, and this is expected to impact 3.06 million jobs.

“On average, every day of this year will add $230 million to industry losses. In total that’s a loss of $84.3 billion,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO, said in a statement.