International Fights Latest News Today: Days after announcing flights from Delhi to San Francisco, Air India on Friday announced resumption of direct international flights from Hyderabad to Chicago. As per the latest updates from the airlines, the direct flights will resume from December 22. Notably, these flights will be operated under Central government’s air bubble agreement.
Air India said the non-stop flights from Chicago to Hyderabad will be operating every Wednesday starting from 22 December 2021 and the non-stop flight from Hyderabad to Chicago will operate every Friday starting from 24 December 2021.
At present, Air India operates direct flights only from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Chicago. The airline also is operating direct flights from Mumbai to Newark and New York, and its newest addition from Bengaluru to San Francisco.
Last week, the airline had announced additional flights between India and United States. Notably, those flights would start from December 21, 2021. The airline had in a statement said the flights will be operated under air bubble agreement between the two countries.
It must be noted that there is massive demand for travel between India and the United States after the lockdowns were relaxed.
Full flight schedule here:
| Flight No | Departure | Dep. Time | Arrival | Arr. Time | Duration | Freq |
| AI 107 | Hyderabad | 12:50 | Chicago | 18:05 | 16h 45m | Fri |
| AI 108 | Chicago | 21:30 | Hyderabad | 00:40 | 15h 40m | Wed |
Travel guidelines to the US:
- With the outbreak of Omicron, the US had last month updated travel protocols for international arrivals.
- Air passengers who have been in certain countries during past 14 days may not enter the United States as immigrants.
- Before boarding the flight to the US, the passengers will have to show a negative COVID-19 test report.
- Children under 2 years of age do not need to undergo test.
International flights ban: In he meantime, the DGCA has extended the ban on international flights till January 31. However, the suspension won’t apply to international all cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA, it said. The Civil aviation regulator body further added that the international flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis.
Notably, the scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. But special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May 2020.
Till now, India has formed air bubble pacts with around 32 countries including the US, the UK, the UAE, Kenya, Bhutan and France.
