US passenger flights to India to resume on July 23

The United States Transportation Department has said that the government of India has agreed to allow air carriers in the United States to resume passenger services in the U.S.-India market starting from July 23.

In June, the department had accused the Indian government of engaging in “unfair and discriminatory practices” on charter air transportation services to and from India and had issued an order requiring Indian air carriers to apply for authorization prior to conducting charter flights.

The Transportation Department said it was withdrawing the order and said it had also approved an Air India application for passenger charter flights between the United States and India.

On its part, the United States had not placed any limitations on US-India charter operations, and Air India has been and remains free to conduct the full complement of passenger charter services…,” its order of June 22 read. It also said Air India’s repatriation flights have gone beyond the purpose “at least on the India to the US segments” and involved sales.
Separately, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had on July 3 extended the ban on international flights until July 31. The ban was until July 15 so far, and the restarting of normal scheduled international passenger flights has now been deferred further.

According to senior government officials, the ban was extended because it was felt that it would take some more time for India to prepare before it can resume scheduled international operations.

The resumption of international flights depends mainly on the destination country allowing Indian citizens into its borders, or removing travel restrictions that they put in place over the last few months.