Vistara has announced special, non-stop flights between Delhi and Tokyo from 16th June, 2021 onwards. The airline will fly once a week between the two capital cities under India’s travel bubble agreement with Japan. Vistara will use its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft with three-class cabin configuration to serve the route.

Air India is all set to resume its international flight operation between India and the UK starting from 17th May onwards - the flights between both countries have been suspended since 23rd April after the UK govt. added India into the ‘Red List’ for travel after the huge surge in coronavirus cases in India.

• The national carrier will fly on the Bengaluru-London Heathrow-Bengaluru; Delhi-London Heathrow-Delhi and Mumbai-London Heathrow-Mumbai sectors.
• Air India will operate flights on the Delhi-London Heathrow-Delhi sector from May 16 to May 31, 2021 (except May 22 and May 29).
• Flights from Mumbai to London Heathrow will operate from May 16 to May 30, 2021. (except May 17, 19, 24, and May 26) and London Heathrow to Mumbai will operate from May 17 to May 31, 2021 (except May 18, 23, 25, and May 30).
• Flights from Bengaluru to London Heathrow will operate on May 17, 19, 24, 26 and May 31, 2021, and flights from London Heathrow to Bengaluru will operate on May 16, 18, 23, 25, and May 30, 2021.

Here is the revised Lufthansa flight schedule between India and Frankfurt effective from 18th May till 31st May under the 'air bubble' agreement between India and Germany.

Flights from India:

Flights to India:

Only German nationals and holders of a German resident permit are allowed to enter Germany and can take these flights.

Effective 16th May, all ten weekly flights to and from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore will transit in Bahrain instead of Dubai. Lufthansa had been operating its 10 India flights via Dubai so that the flight crew need not do a layover in India. Currently, the cockpit crew change happens in the Gulf country instead of India. Now the transit will happen in Bahrain due to the new United Arab Emirates regulations that restrict flights between India and Dubai.

In the meantime, German authorities have lifted entry restrictions. Now accepted are antigen tests valid for 48 hours, and Covid-19 RT-PCR tests valid for 72 hours. This facilitates travel for passengers on long-haul flights or needing to transit en route to Germany. Further a test will no longer be required if you arrive in Germany from a country outside the European Schengen area and immediately transit to another country not part of the Schengen area.

India is currently fighting an uphill battle with an unprecedented surge of coronavirus cases since early March. In the last few days, many countries have implemented travel bans and restrictions on flights to and from India to control the spread of the new Indian variant of the virus:

Further to the May 1.0 travel updates newsletter, here is new / additional restrictions imposed by countries updated as on 17th May, 1800 hrs - for countries not mentioned in this list, the restrictions are the same as the last newsletter.

Netherlands:
The Dutch government which had announced a three week travel ban on India from 26th April to 15th May and extended the ban further till 1st June ’21.

Canada:
The Regulatory Authority of Canada has banned flights from India for a further period of 30 days till 22nd June. Those who travel to Canada from India or Pakistan via an indirect route will need to obtain a negative COVID-19 test from their last point of departure and subject to two weeks quarantine which includes up to three days at an approved hotel while awaiting their on-arrival COVID-19 test results.

Apart from above countries, UK, USA, UAE, Germany, France, Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Kuwait, Kenya, New Zealand, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Singapore have temporarily banned Indian nationals travelling from India.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the aviation sector badly. There has been a significant drop in passenger traffic especially after the emergence of the second wave of the pandemic last month. The flight operations at Delhi airport's Terminal 2 (T2) will be stopped from the midnight of 17th May ‘21 onwards and all the operations will be shifted to Terminal 3 (T3)

The two airlines, GoAir and IndiGo - which operate from T2 have been asked to shift to T3.

Wadia Group-backed GoAir has been rebranded as 'Go First' as the airline is betting big on its ultra-low-cost business model to tide over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Go First as ULCC (ultra-low-cost carrier) would operate narrow-body aircraft type across its fleet, which comprises Airbus A320 and A320 Neos (new engine option) planes in operation.

According to an official release, Go First is positioned to get ahead of its peer group by operating with the ULCC model. The ULCC model comprises the youngest average fleet among Indian low-cost carriers, majority of which are Airbus A320 Neos.

Considering India’s high case count, many travellers are opting for extra comfort of having the seat next to them unoccupied. Airlines, taking advantage of lower load factors, are selling middle seats at a lower price, allowing passengers some social distancing onboard. IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Vistara are all now selling middle seats to passengers with terms and conditions.

Vistara and SpiceJet offers the second seat at 100% of the first seat fare, while with SpiceJet you can choose to purchase the entire row for yourself. IndiGo offers the second seat at about 70% of the first seat fare and GoAir at about 50% of the first seat fare.

Any person entering the state of Maharashtra by any mode of transport will have to carry a negative RT-PCR report which has to be issued within 48 hours before the time of entry into Maharashtra. This is with effect from 15th May.

Airlines may allow passengers to board for an airport in Maharashtra even if they do not have an RT-PCR test if they agree to get tested upon arrival. For such passengers, airport authorities have arranged for swab collection centers where they can submit their throat-nasal swabs after payment.

For example, at Pune Airport, those passengers who do not have a negative RT-PCR test are ferried to a sample collection booth set up at the arrival area and a sample is collected. “Contact details and address of the passenger is collected at this time. Once the test results arrive, names and contact details of the passengers who have tested positive are shared with municipal authorities who then proceed with the established protocol,” said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official at Pune. Such facilities have been made available at Nagpur and Aurangabad Airport as well.

However passengers arriving to Mumbai without a negative report will be denied boarding at the point of origin.

India is in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19 and several states have enforced localized lockdowns as well as restrictions on movement. The protocols on air travel are updated almost daily so we suggest that you check the latest guidelines on the airline’s website before you leave for the airport for a hassle-free experience.

Many states have now made the RT-PCR test mandatory before arriving into their state. Click here to download the latest state wise travel restrictions.