International flights to remain suspended till December 31, only selected flights allowed: DGCA

New Delhi, Nov 26: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on November 26 extended the suspension of scheduled international commercial flights till December 31 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

The DGCA said planes will fly only on select routes on a case-to-case basis, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular on Thursday.

The restrictions, however, are not applicable to international all-cargo operations and flights specially approved by the DGCA, it added.

"In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular issued on the subject cited above regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 2359 hrs IST of 31st December 2020," a notification from the industry regulator said.

The extended suspension comes at a time when the country's Covid-19 tally has soared past 9.26 million while 135,223 people have died of the disease.

The government has established air bubbles with several countries, under which airlines from both countries are allowed to operate a specified number of flights between cities.