More non-stop India-UK Air India flights added from August 16

Following the UK's easing of travel restrictions to and from India, Air India has announced an increase of non-stop flights between India and the United Kingdom.

The flag carrier of India will operate 13 weekly flights connecting London with six Indian cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Amritsar, and Kochi from August 16 to September 1, 2021.

Last week, Sanjeev Gupta, Secretary, Inter-State Council Secretariat, Union Home Ministry, had complained on Twitter that an economy-class ticket on British Airways's Delhi-London flight for August 26 was steeply priced at Rs 395,000(£3,837).

According to reports in the Indian media, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has since clarified that an economy-class ticket on the Delhi-London flight has been available for between Rs103,000 (£1,000) and Rs 147,000 (£1,428) during August.

A senior official said that the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all airlines to ensure that flight ticket prices on search engines are not higher than those displayed on the carriers' websites.

Passengers travelling to international destinations "are requested to check the fare from concerned Airlines' websites as metasearch engines at times do not reflect actual fare and end up with an exaggerated figure", India's civil aviation regulator said in a statement.

Meanwhile, scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020. Limited special international passenger flights have been operational since July 2020 under the air bubble arrangements formed with 28 countries, including the UK.