US Restricts Special Flights From India, Says India ‘Unfair’

In a follow up to US Embassy New Delhi’s initial objection in May about charter air transportation services between US and India, the United States government on Monday alleged that Indian govt is involved in ‘unfair and discriminatory practices’.

According to US air transportation dept, India has stopped approving US carriers for charter operations and banned all the scheduled flights. Starting 7th May, the flag carrier airline ‘Air India’ has been conducting ‘repatriation’ charter flights between US and India. Previously, China also faced this accusation of declining US air carriers to conduct flights between China and US.

The US department said that Air India is operating at a 53% rate, when compared with scheduled services before pandemic crisis. “Considering this rate of flying, and that Air India is selling tickets on the market, the charters go beyond true repatriations, and it appears that Air India may be using repatriation charters as a way of circumventing the GoI-imposed prohibition of scheduled services,” they US department further said.

So, the US government has issued an order which would now require the Air Carriers to apply for authorisation before operating charter flights. With a view to “restore level playing field for US airlines”, the American officials will now “scrutinize charter flights from India on case-to-case basis”.