Will try to resume international flights before August, says Hardeep Singh Puri

Days after announcing the resumption of domestic commercial flights from May 25, the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that the ministry is mulling over starting some percentage of international passenger flights before August. Amid nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, thousands of NRIs are stuck in the country and there have been demands to resume the operation of international flights. Meanwhile, Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government will be able to facilitate NRIs stuck here in India much before international air travel is resumed. Civil Aviation Minister, through a Facebook live program, addressed the concerns of people about domestic and international air travel. He said that the government would be able to facilitate NRIs much before the international air travel resumed. https://twitter.com/HardeepSPuri/status/1264129284647641089?s=20 He also said that the foreigners stranded in India due to the suspension of international air travel had already been returning in the evacuation flights, being operated by their respective countries. Meanwhile, he was asked about whether NRIs would be able to return by August or September, the minister said, “We must have a more ambitious goal. Why not start by mid-June or June-end or July.” Also Read | Flight routes classified into 7 categories as domestic air travel starts from May 25 Hardeep Puri stated that if the situation remained predictable, he was confident of starting a good part of international flights, if not all of it, much before August-September. Likewise, Hardeep Singh Puri reiterated that the domestic passengers who did not have coronavirus symptoms and had a green status on the Aarogya Setu app need not be quarantined after reaching their destinations. -PTC News