The Centre on Thursday sketched a flight plan for foreign airlines following US action against the chartered flights being carried out by Air India, a facility denied to the American carriers.

India has now established individual bilateral bubbles with France, Germany and the US that will allow airlines of each country in the pact to operate international flights, said the civil aviation ministry on Thursday.

Air France will be operating 28 flights between Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Paris from July 18 to August 1, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at a press conference.

American carrier United Airlines will be flying 18 flights between India and the US from July 17 to 31, he said.

“They (United) are flying a daily flight between Delhi and Newark and a thrice-a-week flight between Delhi and San Francisco,” Puri said.

The minister on Thursday said India is planning to establish a bubble with the UK soon under which there would be two flights a day between Delhi and London.

On Thursday, the civil aviation ministry issued a statement that said, “Air bubbles established with US, France and Germany... Lufthansa will also be operating (flights).”

From India, Air India will be operating the flights to France, Germany and the US under these bubbles.

On July 9, India had announced an air bubble with the UAE that would be in place from July 12 to 26.

Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23.

On the cap on domestic airfare amid the coronavirus pandemic, Puri said he feels it needs to continue for a while.

Furlough decision

On the decision to send certain Air India employees on leave without pay for up to five years, Puri said: “Equity infusion of the kind of Rs 500-600 crore every year is not a sustainable way to run an airline now. Everybody has to cut costs. That is what is happening here.”

He said even if Air India wants financial assistance from the government now, it may not be possible for the government to help the carrier as it has to meet other demands such as providing relief to vulnerable sections of society.

ATF price

The price of jet fuel was raised on Thursday by 1.5 per cent, the fourth increase in six weeks, while petrol and diesel rates were unchanged.

The aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by Rs 635.47 per kilolitre (kl), or 1.5 per cent, to Rs 42,628.28 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies. This is the fourth straight increase in ATF prices in six months.

“This is my personal view,” Puri said. The price cap on domestic flight tickets is in place till at least August 24.

The government had in May allowed resumption of domestic flight operations but had set limits on airfares, categorising them into seven bands as per the flight durations.

After nearly two months of suspension to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the government resumed scheduled domestic passenger flights on May 25.

However, it had then allowed the airlines to operate maximum 33 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic flights.

The ministry of civil aviation increased the limits on June 26 from 33 per cent to 45 per cent.

“We are assuming that by the time Diwali comes this year, we would have 55-60 per cent of pre-Covid domestic flights operating in India,” Puri said at the press conference.

I had imagined we would reach 33 per cent of our domestic capacity by July 15 but we have not, the minister said.

Various states like Maharashtra have put restrictions on the number of flights that their airports can handle per day, he said, adding that he expects this would change in coming 2-3 weeks.

He said once the domestic capacity reaches 50-55 per cent of its pre-COVID capacity, the government will get the confidence about opening international air travel further. The fact of the matter is that international flights will take place between bigger metros in India and outside locations, the minister mentioned. Giving the example of the Mumbai airport, he said if more international flights are allowed to Mumbai, those passengers will need forward flights to go to other places in India but that will be a constraint as the airport handles only 50 flights per day.

The India-UAE air bubble was permitted on July 9 under specific conditions.

Charter flights operated by the UAE carriers have been permitted to bring Indian citizens from the UAE to India and carry “ICA-approved UAE residents” on their return leg, said the Civil Aviation Ministry.

The ICA stands for the UAE's Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship.

On India to the UAE journeys, all these flights have been permitted to carry only those passengers who are destined for the Gulf country, it noted.

The ministry also said, “Indian carriers operating repatriation flights to bring Indian citizens from UAE to India will be allowed to carry the ICA-approved UAE residents (returning to UAE from India) on the outward journey from India to the UAE.”