Originally Posted by venk

One problem is that this being an off-peak travel season and without a firm sign of Covid peaking, there isn’t as much pressure on DGCA from the industry to resume regular flights as there was in November for the holiday travel with high fares before Omicron spoiled the party.

On the other hand, the fact that DGCA hasn’t extended the ban beyond Jan 31 while as close as two weeks to end of ban and some airlines increasing frequency is a good sign since the default is to resume unless there is political pressure (the closing date of Air India sale gets extended again beyond Jan 23 into Feb and/or some protectionism is part of deal) or Covid numbers spike and some optics have to be managed.

However, it is possible some countries in Europe may continue to be considered “at risk” and continue with bubble rules well into Feb if not Mar for non-Covid reasons. Transit via UAE should be fine. Hard to get rid of protection racket entirely.