Green light for international charter flights to land in Kolkata

KOLKATA: After prohibiting international flights from landing in Kolkata for over a month, the state government on Friday eased the restrictions by allowing international charter flights to operate with only Covid-negative certified passengers on board.

While the embargo on Vande Bharat flights will continue, the decision will come as a huge relief to those from Bengal and other eastern states who have been stranded in different parts of the globe for over four months now.It will also enable airlines and travel agents to join hands to float charter flights with no fare cap.
In a letter to the ministry of external affairs, the state government announced a revised SOP for charter flights carrying Indian nationals from abroad to Bengal. “The state government has decided that presently only charter flights carrying stranded Indian nationals from abroad having a negative test report (RT-PCR) conducted within 96 hours of flight departure may land at airports in Bengal,” the letter stated.
Four days ago, the health ministry had issued fresh guidelines for international arrivals wherein passengers flying to India from August 8 can skip institutional quarantine if they submit Covid-19 negative reports. This test should be done within 96 hours prior to undertaking the journey. Passengers without the negative report will continue to be quarantined.
When the paid quarantine rule was introduced, the state had empanelled several hotels. On Thursday, the health department issued a list of 27 hotels with 1,436 rooms for self-quarantine, hinting at possible resumption of international flights. While the latter proved true, quarantine will no longer be required as the government has made it mandatory for all arriving passengers to produce the Covid-negative report.
The move, while continuing to impose restrictions on Vande Bharat repatriation flights, will allow airlines and travel agents to cobble together allowances and run charter flights to fly home stranded people. Fares though could hit the roof with tickets from Dubai costing Rs 40,000-50,000. “There is a huge demand from the Gulf and South East Asia. Trade bodies like Travel Agents Federation of India, Travel Agents Association of India and the Airlines Operators’ Committee have been pushing for this and we are glad the government has responded,” said TAFI chairman (east) Anil Punjabi.
Kolkata airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee said: “We are glad international flights will operate again. There has been a lot of queries from Indians stranded abroad on when flights will resume. Now they will have an opportunity to fly back.”