On Thursday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that India will suspend its scheduled international passenger flights till January 31 next year. The DGCA on December 1 decided not to resume international passenger flights from December 15 amid growing concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. A week before this, the DGCA announced to resume scheduled international flights from India.
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) December 9, 2021
On Thursday, the DGCA issued a circular saying, "The competent authority has decided to extend the suspension of international commercial passenger services to and from India till January 31, 2022. However, this suspension will not apply to all cargo flights approved by DGCA." DGCA further said that international flights can be allowed on select routes on a case-to-case basis. It also clarified that all international flights under the current 'air bubble' regime will continue till January 31.
In India, scheduled international passenger services have been suspended since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. But since May 2020 and under bilateral "air bubble" arrangements with selected countries since July 2020, special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission .