Foreign airlines' flights will not be allowed at expense of Indian airlines: Puri

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday Oct 8 said the time has come to send a loud and clear message that foreign airlines' flights will not be allowed at the expense of Indian airlines.

On September 28, Lufthansa had to cancel its flights between India and Germany from September 30 to October 20 as the DGCA withdrew permission for them saying there are restrictions on Indians who want to travel to Germany and this puts "Indian carriers at a significant disadvantage resulting in inequitable distribution of traffic in favour of Lufthansa".

During a press conference, Puri said, "The issue is not about allowing foreign carriers in or not. We are all for foreign carriers operating here. Make no mistake. But I think the time has come for the message to go out loud and clear that it will not be done at the expense of the Indian carriers".

"Under the regulated (air bubble) arrangements, we are not insisting on total parity. Even near parity will do," the minister added.

Air India forced to cancel all Frankfurt flights till October 14 as Germany withdrew permission for them

After the aforementioned Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) decision that led to cancellation of Lufthansa's flights, Air India was forced to cancel all Frankfurt flights till October 14 as Germany withdrew permission for them.

Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, special international flights have been allowed since July under the bilateral air bubble pacts formed by India with around 16 countries, including Germany.

Air bubble arrangement will be finalised with Germany: Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola

Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said at the press conference that India and Germany are in talks on how to re-establish the air bubble arrangement between the two countries.

"We had the first round of talks with Germany on Tuesday. They were held in a congenial atmosphere and they were very constructive talks. They put forth their viewpoint and we put our viewpoint. We are going to meet them in a day or two once again and the air bubble arrangement will be finalised with Germany," Kharola said.