The World Health Organisation has dubbed Omicron a variant of concern after early evidence showed it could be more transmissible, and resistant to immunity from past infection or vaccination
A Vistara flight from Mumbai landed in Singapore on Monday while Singapore Airlines and IndiGo were also scheduled to resume their flights between the two countries even as the airlines awaited clarity on operations in view of the detection of a new Covid-19 variant–Omicron.
The government on Friday allowed scheduled international flights from December 15 to and from all countries considered not at risk”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked officials to review the plan to ease international travel restrictions after the new variant triggered global alarm. He called for the need to be “proactive in light of the new threat”.
The World Health Organisation has dubbed Omicron a variant of concern after early evidence showed it could be more transmissible, and resistant to immunity from past infection or vaccination. The detection has prompted countries such as Japan to suspend the entry of foreign visitors.
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Vistara operated the Mumbai-Singapore flight under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), which allows quarantine-free travel to Singapore for fully vaccinated travellers. The airline has scheduled five flights weekly to Singapore.
IndiGo was scheduled to operate a Chennai-Singapore flight under VTL at 2.50 pm. It has been allocated 3,618 seats per week, of which 1,624 seats will be available on the Chennai-Singapore route under VTL.
“The rest of the capacity will be utilised under non-VTL conditions for travel to and from Singapore,” an airline spokesperson said.
A Singapore airline official said they will be operating flights to Singapore as per schedule until the government issues fresh guidelines. The airline’s first flight between the two countries is scheduled to take off at…