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U.S. imposes new regulations on India repatriation flights
June 26th 2020
The U. S. government this week charged Air India with going "beyond true repatriations" with its charter flights to the country and ordered the airline to seek approval to operate future services. Read More »
The order said Indian carriers would not be permitted to operate any third and/or fourth-freedom charter flights without a statement of authorisation from the Department of Transportation (DoT).
Applications would have to be made at least 30 days before proposed charter flights.
Following the grounding of scheduled passenger services from COVID-19, the DoT noted Air India had been operating self-described evacuation, or repatriation, charter flights between India and the U.S. in both directions since May 7, 2020.
Figures from the DoT revealed Air India had scheduled 59 of these services between June 10 and July 1. These services compared with 34 round-trip flights a week between India and the U.S. before the suspension of flights on March 25. As a result, the charter schedule represented 53% of the operations Air India had previously performed as scheduled services.
The DoT said it appeared Air India "may be using its passenger repatriation charters as a way of circumventing" the Indian government’s imposed prohibition of all scheduled services.
Considering this rate of flying and that Air India is selling tickets on the market, the charters go beyond true repatriations," the DoT said.
It also expressed frustration at India's "restrictive and discriminatory treatment of U.S. carriers in regard to charters".
Indian carriers were allowed to operate these repatriation flights to the U.S., but the DoT said the Indian government had not approved a Delta Air Lines request to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) on May 26 to operate similar repatriation services.
"We are taking this action because the Government of India has impaired the operating rights of U.S. carriers and has engaged in discriminatory and restrictive practices with respect to U.S. carrier services to and from India," the DoT order said.
Figures from the MOCA showed as at June 24 there had been 705 inbound repatriation flights carrying 134,238 passengers and 709 outbound repatriation flights carrying 48,075 passengers. The services have been branded under the Vande Bharat Mission umbrella.
The MOCA said on its Facebook page it was examining requests from foreign governments to operate repatriation flights and noted a meeting with DoT representatives on June 15.
"We have received requests from concerned authorities in several countries including the U.S., France and Germany among others requesting their air carriers be allowed to participate in the transportation of passengers along the line being conducted by Air India under Vande Bharat Mission," the MOCA statement said.
"As we move from the controlled and managed aviation evacuation of our citizens in different parts of the world and foreign nationals from India, we are looking now at the possibility of establishing bilateral arrangements.
"These evacuation flights, which were primarily meant for the evacuation of our citizens from all over the world, are increasingly carrying Indians and citizens of other countries outbound to countries where they are normally resident."
The MOCA said it would consider establishing bilateral bubbles, including India-U.S., India-France, India-Germany and India-UK.
"These are all destinations where demand for travel has not diminished. Final decisions pursuant to negotiations are expected to be taken soon," the MOCA said.
