From December 15, 2021, after more than 20 months of restrictions, international air traffic to / from India is to be restarted. However, “free flying” is still not possible because the government continues to limit capacity.

The new system takes the service offered before the corona pandemic as a basis and also takes into account the current situation in the aircraft's take-off country. It is therefore to be expected that there will be regular reclassifications and that the airlines will have to revise their flight schedules frequently.

A total of three classifications are provided, which are explained in more detail below:

• Category A - These are those countries in which the current situation is unfavorable from the perspective of the Indian government, but safe travel agreements have been concluded. The airlines are allowed to carry 75 percent of the capacity that existed “before Corona”.
• Category B - This classification is particularly unfavorable for airlines, because these are so-called high-risk areas with which there are no safe travel contracts. The consequence of this is that a maximum of half of the pre-crisis flight performance may be provided. If there are bilateral agreements on the route concerned, a maximum of 50 percent of the agreed rotations may be carried out.
• Category C - Air traffic from states categorized in this way is not subject to any restrictions. The full capacity may be carried out. The United Arab Emirates will primarily benefit from this.

India currently ranks all European countries in categories A and B. Furthermore, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel are viewed as high-risk areas. Depending on the agreement, these are categorized as A or B. For Europeans, the effects of the easing in aviation are therefore kept within very narrow limits, especially since some EU countries continue to quarantine India.