When will international travel resume? Is Canada open for travel?

Amid the ongoing speculations surrounding the resumption of international flight operations, the Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola recently stated to a news portal that the government may consider restoring services on a case to case basis. India resumed its domestic flight services on May 25, 2020, after a hiatus of two months due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But, no definitive details about international travel have been revealed yet. 

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When will international flights resume?

As per reports, the central government may resume flight operations by mid-July according to various reports. It is expected that the government will be in a better position to resume international flights when the domestic air traffic volume reaches 50 per cent, which is expected to happen until mid-July. Even if the required domestic air travel volume is met, international flights are expected to resume in phases and the normalcy of travel frequency in flights will not be witnessed for a very long time.

On the other hand, Kharola had also stated that if international operations need to resume, then both the countries involved have to be ready and there also needs to be considerable traffic. As of now, several countries like US, UK, Brazil, and Singapore have allowed conditional entry to their region while other nations are allowing entry only to their citizens. 

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Image courtesy - Vivek Doshi on Unsplash

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Is Canada open to travel? 

At this time, only Canadian citizens, permanent residents, select foreign nationals travelling for essential reasons, and the immediate family members of Canadian citizens are allowed to enter Canada. It is speculated that Canada will be keeping its borders shut till mid-July and is expected to keep them shut for non-essential travels if the COVID-19 pandemic continues to strengthen. Several Canadian provinces have reportedly restricted travel around Canada which makes it harder for the international travellers, who wish to visit the country as tourists, to travel without any restrictions 

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As per reports, even if international travel ban gets lifted in Canada, they will be following the strategy followed by New Zealand and make a 14-day quarantine period mandatory for even asymptomatic people. On the other hand, frequent temperature checks will also become normal along with the use of masks. Any official announcement around Canada allowing international travellers is still awaited.