Yesterday, the decision to extend the India-wide lockdown till May 17, 2020, was made public. Back in March, airlines were told to ground all aircraft in India and close operations temporarily. Then, it was decided that airlines across the country would park all their aircraft by March 24, 2020, 2359 hours, and not operate any flights till March 31, 2359 hours. You can read the full details of the initial grounding here. From there, the nationwide lockdown went into effect till April 14, 2020, and hence all domestic and international operations to India were ceased as well till April 14, 2359 hours. The lockdown was then further extended till May 3, and so were the flight groundings.
All the planes are now parked across the country. Here is a picture of the Bengaluru Airport from the time the lockdown started, where planes are parked all across.
Now, with India lockdown extended through May 17, airlines across India have had to further cancel their schedules through May 17, 2020, 2359 hours. Here is an official notification to this effect by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
As you can see, this time around, the DGCA has not allowed any airlines to sell tickets for flights during the lockdown. However, many airlines are selling flights from June 1, 2020, at the moment, as we had reported earlier. The ability of all Indian and international flights to operate is taken away till May 17, 2020, 2359 hours.
I had advised people not to buy tickets for flights for the time being. It turns out, my worse fears did come true, because airlines have now decided to keep your money for flights between May 4, 2020, and May 17, 2020, as well. Here is the first such note I saw.
Bottomline
No flying for those in India till May 17, 2020. I guess the only people who will end up flying will be any foreign nationals who will be extracted out of India at the moment. And if you are planning to fly after the ban is over, don’t book any tickets yet, because you don’t know when this ends. Unless of course, you like to keep your money in credit shells.
How are you all holding up through all the chaos around us?
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Many of us are Stranded and Suffering, wanting to go home. Had come for a conference and training, then the lock down occured with return confirmed bookings flights cancelled twice. I am a Cardiologist and my patients and Hospital are adversely affected due to my unexpected long absence especially during this COVID pandemic where I want to be in active fight against Corona. But if it is in National Interest will support the lockdown even it is personal inconvenience. However my requests to allow Air-Shipment of Medicines for my personal regular use which we are taking routinely for our health and have got exhausted, are not being addressed. The packages are lying with UPS International Couriers at Mumbai airport for over 10 days. No acknowledgement from Ministry of External affairs, Indian Embassy in Washington over emails, twitter etc. Sad state of affairs and hope the delivery of medicines is delivered ASAP as Cargo flights are functioning.