New coronavirus strain | Centre halts flights to and from U.K. till Dec. 31

All passengers already on their way to India until the ban came into effect would be subjected to a mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival, the government stated.

Passengers from the U.K., until the ban comes into effect, will be subjected to a mandatory RT-PCR test upon arrival. File (representational image)

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on December 21 announced its decision to ban all flights to the U.K. from December 22 midnight until December 31 in an effort to keep out a new highly infectious coronavirus strain that is rapidly spreading in England .

“This suspension to start w.e.f. 23.59 hours, 22nd December 2020. Consequently flights from India to U.K. shall stand temporarily suspended during above said period,” the Ministry posted in a series of tweets.

The government also clarified that no airline operating from any country would be allowed to bring a passenger who had travelled from the U.K. to India.

After a distinct phylognetic cluster of SARs-CoV-2 was found spreading and growing rapidly in the United Kingdom, the Government of India has called for intensified epidemiological surveillance, containment measures and other steps to effectively tackle the challenge.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in a note to the Ministry of Civil Aviation said the new SARs-CoV-2 variant was reported to have an "unusually large number of genetic changes particularly in the spike protein."

 

Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Israel have already suspended U.K. flights.

While international flights remain suspended in India, the government has entered into a special agreement with 22 countries to allow direct flights from and to India.

The announcement will hit Air India, Vistara, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways who altogether operate 21 weekly flights from Delhi and 16 weekly flights from Mumbai.

RT-PCR test on arrival

All passengers already on their way to India until the ban came into effect would be subjected to a mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival, the government stated.

“Vistara will comply with the government’s decision to suspend all flights originating from the UK to India. In order to minimize inconvenience to our customers, we will enable one-time free-of-charge rescheduling of affected bookings to any date until 31 December 2021,” said an airline spokesperson.

The announcement comes as a disappointment for the Tata- Singapore International Airline joint venture, which launched its operations to London recently to benefit from the massive “visiting family and relatives” category of passengers that dominates the India-U.K. sector. The launch happened at a time only airlines of the country of origin and destination were allowed to ferry passengers, eliminating via travel and competition from Gulf carriers.

“The latest lockdown in the U.K. has been imposed very suddenly by its government, and its comments on the new strain of virus leave other countries with little choice but to restrict travel to and from the U.K. The decision will hurt U.K. airlines a lot, and will also obviously hurt others with U.K. operations too, including carriers operating between the U.K. and India in this peak travel season for NRIs and VFR traffic,” said Sanjiv Kapoor, Ex- Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer for Vistara and an industry veteran.

The announcement comes at a time a task force on tourism comprising airlines, airports and various government Ministries proposed further relaxation of visa norms and reopening of overseas travel.

(With inputs from S. Vijay Kumar)