MoCA allows foreign ad hoc Covid relief flights to fly to any Indian airport

May 3, 2021: Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) instructed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to prioritise the foreign ad hoc flights carrying Covid-19 pandemic relief materials to India, has lifted the restrictions and allowed such flights to operate to any Indian airport with customs and immigration facilities.

Earlier in December 2020, DGCA had restricted the operations of all foreign ad hoc and pure non-scheduled freighter charter service flights to six Indian airports namely Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

A communication from MoCA to DGCA dated April 29, 2021 reads, “The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact across the country. As a measure to overcome the present humanitarian crisis, it has now been decided to allow operations of foreign ad hoc and pure non-scheduled all-cargo services (including charters and P2C flights) carrying medical supplies including all raw materials, components and other materials required for the domestic industry for handling Covid-19 pandemic situation, temporarily for a period of 2 months or till further orders whichever is earlier, to/from any airport in India where customs/immigration facilities are available. These operations will be subject to compliance with applicable safety regulations for the carriage of such cargo. DGCA may ensure that due priority is accorded in granting clearance of such flights.”

Since the Indian second wave of Covid-19 pandemic became deadly, many foreign countries and international associations are sending relief materials including oxygen concentrators, oxygen generator plants, ventilators and other relief materials.

Sahil Barua, co-founder and chief executive officer, Delhivery, announced on LinkedIn on Sunday, "Our first set of 1000 oxygen concentrators have landed and are in distribution to hospitals, administrators and organizations around the country. 38,444 more will come in with a daily schedule through all of next week."

"What began as 2 charters have expanded to over 15 charters with 1000+ tons of medical equipment, and counting," he added.

On Sunday, CMA CGM Air Cargo, the newly created airfreight division of the CMA CGM group, flew to India for the first time ever a free of charge chartered Airbus A330-200 freighter carrying 28 tonnes of medical equipment worth over ₹17 crore from Paris to Delhi on behalf of the government of France.

United Airlines on Thursday, FedEx on Friday and National Airlines on Sunday operated chartered flights to India carrying various relief supplies from the United States on behalf of the federal government as well as other various international organisations.

Meanwhile, airlines are also using their scheduled flights to carry pandemic related materials. For example, Lufthansa’s scheduled flight LH760 from Frankfurt to Delhi had a total of around ten tonnes of medical equipment. This equipment is part of a larger consignment that time:matters, the specialist for high-volume special logistics, is carrying out on behalf of a customer.

Qatar Airways announced that it is supporting international efforts to tackle the second Covid-19 surge in India by shipping medical aid and equipment to the country free of charge from global suppliers. The airline intends to transport 300 tonnes of aid from across its global network to Doha where it will be flown in a three-flight cargo aircraft convoy directly to destinations in India.

Qatar Airways and Gulf Warehousing Company (GWC) also announced that they are supporting relief efforts for India from communities in Qatar under its sustainability project WeQare.

Indian airlines like SpiceJet, IndiGO and GOAir are also participating in the effort to procure Covid related relief supplies. For example, SpiceXpress today airlifted 700 oxygen concentrators from Guangzhou, China to New Delhi.