High Commission of India

Singapore

Procedure for seeking approval for

Nonscheduled commercial charter flights for repatriation to India

Government of India has revised the guidelines on special repatriation flights. Non scheduled commercial charter flights are now permitted for repatriation of Indian nationals and certain categories of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI).

1. Who can avail-

Stranded Indian citizens of all categories previously mentioned ie. students, professionals, workers, visitors, deportees, crew/seafarers, fishermen and OCI card holder of four categories previously mentioned-

A) Minor children born to Indian nationals abroad and holding OCI cards.

B) OCI cardholders who wish to come to India on account of family emergencies like death in family.

C) Couples where one or both spouses are OCI cardholders and they have a permanent residence in India.

D) University students who are OCI cardholders (not legally minors) but whose parents are Indian citizens living in India.

2. Who can arrange-

 As per revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), travel to India by special charter flights to be arranged by employers or by hiring firms , Indian associations, unions, welfare groups as well as private individuals meeting the criteria in Section 1.

3. Conditions -

A) All such Charters are to be operated in full compliance with the SOP promulgated by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on May 5, 2020, ie, the SOP being used for Vande Bharat Mission flights.

B) Companies paying for such charters may choose a flight operator at their discretion.

C) The cost of travel will be borne by such travelers or by their employers.

D) The charter flights must operate as ferry aircraft which means they must return empty or with cargo from India. One exception is that Indian seafarers/crew seeking to accept contracts to serve on vessels abroad can travel on charter flights subject to their clearance given by Ministry of Shipping.

E) All travelers shall give an undertaking before boarding that they would undergo mandatory institutional quarantine for a minimum period as prescribed on arrival in India at their own cost or at the cost of the employer.

F) COVID Testing: While RT-PCR or Rapid Antibody Testing is desirable, given limitations and cost, it is not obligatory. If passengers have COVID-negative certification, please mention it in proposing the charter flight.

G) Upon completion of quarantine, relevant Government authorities would provide e-passes, if required, for intra-State/inter-State movement to their native places.

4. How to avail

A) The chartering organization/group/individual hires a charter aviation company (aviation partner) and provides all details of the passengers in the Excel Data Sheet (format attached) to the aviation partner. It is essential that all fields in the Excel Sheet must be filled in.

B) The aviation partner submits a request to High Commission of India (HCI) in Singapore stating “we (the name of the aviation company) request your approval to operate charter fight(s) from Singapore to (name of the city or list all if there are more than one cities) to repatriate Indian nationals/eligible OCIs stranded in Singapore to India. The return leg of Singapore will be empty or will carry only cargo. The proposed flight schedule is given below:

Flight Number

Date and time of departure

Airport from which the flight is departing

Destination Airport(s) in India

Date and time of arrival

Aircraft type

C) Request is to be sent to HCI Singapore by email to Shri Ninad S. Deshpande, Deputy High Commissioner ([email protected]) with a copy to Shri Farhat Khan, First Secretary (Economics) ([email protected]) and Shri S.K. Goel, Second Secretary (Head of Chancery) ([email protected]).

D) The request should be accompanied by the (i) duly filled Proforma for Clearance for Inbound Charter Flight (ii) Excel Sheet containing full details of the passengers and (iii) Embarkation Form, which will be provided by Mission upon query.

E) HCI Singapore will forward the proposal to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in Delhi.

F) MEA will send it to the concerned State Government(s) for approval and convey to the Mission.

G) After receiving the State Government (s) approval, Aviation company should approach Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with flight plan for approval with a copy to HCI SIngapore.

H) Mission will approach MEA for their clearance of the flight plan , which will be conveyed to Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and DGCA, for approval of the charter flight. MoCA and DGCA will convey clearance to MEA, which in turn, will convey the approval to the HCI Singapore. HCI Singapore will convey approval to the aviation partner.

Note: If the aviation partner is unable to present a flight schedule with the initial application or the flight schedule changes subsequent to the initial application, MEA will seek the flight plan from the aviation partner through HCI Singapore before submitting the application to MoCA/DGCA for approval. To speed up the process, it is advisable to submit the flight plan with the initial application.

5. Coordination

A) Charter flights to India will start from May 28, 2020.

B) That approvals will be given taking into account the number of requests, received from various countries which are likely to be high, and the capacity and preparedness of destination states to receive the passengers.

C) It would be advisable to avoid major gateway cities i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru, etc. and select airports which are likely to receive fewer flights. For example, in Tamil Nadu airports like Trichy, Madurai and Coimbatore should be preferred over Chennai. This is particularly recommended in the first half of June 2020.

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