India eases rules for international passengers, industry heaves sigh of relief

"We would further urge for early resumption of the the normal schedule of International Flight Operations as per bilateral agreements which were in force before March 2020. Presently there are only limited air bubble flights that are operating to some selected countries and the airfares are exorbitant. Once normal international flight operations resume, airfares will come down drastically, and this will boost the arrival of foreign tourists to India," Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, said.

In a significant change, India has now said that incoming international passengers will now have an option of either uploading negative RT-PCR report, taken 72 hrs prior to the journey, or a certificate of completing full primary vaccination schedule of COVID-19. However, it is important to note that this option will only be open if the vaccination certificates are recognised by both countries in question on a mutual basis.

"Besides uploading negative RT-PCR report (taken 72 hours prior to the journey), the option to upload certificate of completing full primary vaccination schedule of COVID-19 vaccination provided from countries on a reciprocal basis," the government said.

In another major relaxation, India has done away with the need for RT-PCR test on the eighth day of arrival and has clarified that a mandatory seven-day home quarantine period is no longer required. Passengers have now been asked to self-monitor their health for 14 days.

The random sampling of 2 percent of all international arriving passengers will continue but the travellers can give their sample and will be allowed to leave the airport.

The demarcation of countries as ‘at-risk’ and other countries has also been removed and as a result, there are no separate rules for 'at-risk' countries anymore.