Lufthansa cancels all flights to India till October 20

New Delhi : Lufthansa, one of the Europe's largest air carrier and Germany's largest air carrier has announced to cancel all flights to India starting September 30 till October 20 citing dispute with the centre. 

Lufthansa, in a statement said that Indian government has unexpectedly rejected the Lufthansa's flight schedule despite prior agreement under the air bubble pact.

Taking to Twitter, Lufthansa said - "Due to the Indian government’s unexpected rejection of Lufthansa’s planned flight schedule for October, Lufthansa will now have to cancel all planned flights between Germany and India between 30 September and 20 October."

Lufthansa further added that - "As of yet, we cannot comment on the development of the situation. Today, we had to cancel all flights between India and Germany scheduled between September 30th and Oct 20th."

Germany was among the first countries with whom India established the air corridor and flights from both the sides, mainly Lufthansa from Germany and Air India from India were operating regular flights on these routes.

While Lufthansa will not be flying any flights in the coming days, Indian air carriers will continue to operate flights to Germany and back including cities like Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.

DGCA, Indian aviation body said - "India formalised an air bubble agreement with Germany in July. However, there are restrictions in place for Indians desiring to travel to Germany which was putting Indian carriers at a disadvantage resulting in an inequitable distribution of traffic in favour of Lufthansa."

India currently has air bubble arrangements with 13 countries including USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Japan.