India will try to restart international flights before August, says Hardeep Singh Puri
India

India will try to restart international flights before August, says Hardeep Singh Puri

The Civil Aviation Minister said he cannot put a date on it but a good percentage of flights can be resumed before August, depending on the situation.

   
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Stranded citizens being screened by a medic before entering an airport in Pune (Representational image) | PTI

New Delhi: India will try to restart a good percentage of international passenger flights before August, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday, three days after announcing resumption of domestic flights from May 25.

All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 25 when the Modi government imposed a lockdown to contain the novel cornavirus pandemic.

“I am fully hopeful that before August or September, we will try to start a good percentage of international civil aviation operations, if not complete international operations,” Puri said during a Facebook live session.

“I can’t put a date on it (restarting international flights). But if somebody says can it be done by August or September, my response is why not earlier depending on what is the situation,” he said.


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