Muscat: India issued a travel advisory on Friday, which said no scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall be allowed to land in India from March 22 for one week.
As per the advisory, no scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall take off from any foreign airport for any airport in India, after 12 am (GMT) of March 22 or 5.31 am Indian Standard Time (IST) of March 22, 2020).
These instructions shall remain in force till 12 am GMT of March 29, 2020.
A maximum travel time of 20 hours is permissible for such commercial passenger aircraft to land in India.
As such, no incoming scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall be allowed to disembark its passengers on Indian soil (Foreigner or Indian) after 08.01 hrs of March 22, 2020 (or 1.31 am of March 23, 2020).
These instructions are in addition to the travel restrictions/ advisories already issued and under implementation.
The above are temporary measures to restrict the spread of COVID-19, and are subject to review by Government.
According to an official of an India-based airline in Muscat. "This technically means there will be no flights between Oman and India during this period."
Another Indian airline said passengers can opt for a cancel and refund option as direct flights are not available.
Oman Air will suspend all flights between India and Oman until at least March 28, pending further updates.
Oman Air will conduct its flights accordingly and notify passengers if there are any changes to its scheduled flights.
"Passengers based in India holding Oman Air flight bookings can contact our India call center at Tel: 01246421111 (24 hours) and our reservation offices from 0900 to 1730 hours (Monday to Saturday) at 02262729000 or 01149970000. All other guests throughout our international network can contact our Call Center at (+ 968) 24531111 or Oman Air representatives in their country," the airline said.
Also, the federal government told the states to issue appropriate directions so that all citizens above 65 (other than for medical assistance) except for public representatives/govt. servants/medical professionals are advised to remain at home.
Similarly, all children below 10 should be advised to stay at home and not to venture out.
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