Lufthansa cancels flights to India, protests DGCA's decision

Not a single flight will arrive until October 20

New Delhi, 30 September 2020, Wednesday

In protest of the Director General of Civil Aviation's decision to allow limited weekly flights, Germany's largest airline announced the cancellation of all its flights to India by October 20. No Lufthansa flights between India and Germany.

"We had to take this decision as the Indian authorities refused to uphold our flight plan till October," Lufthansa said in defense of his decision. He also claimed that India had not yet responded to Germany's offer to negotiate a temporary travel agreement.

India canceled all international passenger flights on March 23 this year due to the Corona virus. However flights were allowed through the air bubble system with 13 countries, including Germany. According to an Indian spokesperson, the Corona epidemic led to an air bubble agreement between India and Germany in which citizens of both countries were allowed to visit each other.

A spokesperson for the Director General of Civil Aviation said Lufthansa handles 20 flights a week while Indian airlines fly three or four flights a week. Even so we allowed Lufthansa seven flights a week. This offer is not acceptable to them.

Lufthansa said India and Germany need to talk to each other as soon as possible to facilitate tourists from India as well as other countries. We had planned our October flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata. But we are not allowed.