India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has limited non-scheduled and ad hoc cargo flights by foreign carriers to six airports.
The change in country’s open sky policy was made following a government review and it is hoped the move will promote India’s airfreight carriers.
“The changes have been made with a view to ensure fair and equal opportunity in the air cargo capacity offered by Indian registered airlines and airlines registered elsewhere,” read a circular from the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation.
As per the revised policy, the operation of foreign ad hoc and pure non-scheduled freighter charter service flights have been restricted to operate at six airports; Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
There are no airports in Kerala now able to handle cargo charters from foreign airlines.
During the lockdown period (March-June) Cochin International Airport handled 8,996.6 tonnes of cargo; with the daily average of international exports alone during the March-June period 70.1 tonnes.
