Thursday, August 20, 2026

Resumption of International Flight Operations ‘Much-Awaited’: IATO President, Rajiv Mehra

By Staff Correspondent

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) expressed its gratitude to the government for resuming regular International Flight Operations from 15 December 2021. Rajiv Mehra, President of, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), spoke about the development, “It is a sigh of relief for us as we had almost zero income for the past almost two years in the absence of foreign tourist arrival.”

He went on to say, “Wholeheartedly we welcome the decision, however, it was also a much-awaited one too, as in the absence of normal running of international flights the opening of Tourist Visas including e-Tourist Visa from 15 November was not much of help as airfares were exorbitantly high. This normalisation of flight operation would reduce the airfares and make it attractive for foreign tourists to visit India for leisure and other industry. “

The IATO President added, “We further appeal to the government to also look into the possibilities of resuming international flights from the 14 countries which have been barred particularly from the source markets like UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa, New Zealand, and Singapore, etc. These are our traditional source markets, and a lot of foreign tourists travel from these countries,” before concluding his statement. 

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