India-Canada flight ban ends, but all scheduled flights remain restricted
24 Sep 2021
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Canada's ban on direct flights from India ended on Monday, but it will take until 26 September to streamline flight operations between the two countries, according to Air Canada, the country’s largest carrier.
The first Air Canada flight to India, after the pandemic-led restrictions - a direct one from Toronto to Delhi – took off from Canada on Monday to reach Delhi on Tuesday night, while three direct flights from India are expected to arrive in Canada on Wednesday.
"As a first step, on Wednesday, three direct flights from India will arrive in Canada and all passengers on these flights will be tested for Covid-19 upon arrival to ensure that the new measures are working," the Canadian government said in a statement.
All passengers should obtain a negative RT-PCR test report and upload proof of being fully vaccinated on the Canadian government's website before getting onto the flight.
Air Canada has made it clear that only Rapid PCR Test and RT-PCR tests will be considered valid for for a passenger to board a Canada-bound flight. The test has to be taken at the lounge and testing centre at the Terminal 3 of Delhi's international airport 18 hours before the flight. No other test from any other clinic in any city will be regarded valid.
All passengers on the flight to Toronto will be tested again on landing, and if the tests results match those taken at the Delhi airport, flights will finally resume on Sunday, 26 September. Air India, too, is expected to start its direct operations to Canada soon.
The Delhi-Toronto airway has opened up and all flights between the two nations will be connected from these two cities at first. The flights will be under the air bubble agreement between the two countries.
Canada imposed a ban on direct flights from India in April owing to surge in SARS-CoV-2 cases in the country. Canada extended the ban for another month in August citing shortcomings in Indian tests and vaccine certificates.
Passengers had to travel via a third country and take a SARS-CoV-2 test or quarantine there before going to Canada. This created widespread distress, especially for students travelling to Canada due to the increase in costs of third-country travel, vaccination, and stay.
The Canadian government has approved Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna, Astrazeneca/Covishield, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Indian passengers to Canada have been advised to take two doses of Covishield before boarding a Canada-bound flight.
