As many as 13 countries can now operate International flights to and from India, under the travel bubble arrangements, Japan being the latest addition to the list. By Tanvi Jain
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While the regular resumption of international flights still remains under question, India has successfully created travel bubbles with 13 countries, in order to allow passengers to fly on select routes to and from these countries, which include, the UK, the US, France, Germany, Maldives, the UAE, Japan, Canada, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq and Nigeria; and is currently in negotiation with, Italy, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, Kenya, Singapore, Russia, Thailand and South Korea, for a similar arrangement.
“Air bubbles are in place with 13 countries. Others are being finalised. In addition to existing countries, people can also fly between India & Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Maldives, Nigeria and Qatar. Carriers of India and these countries will operate,” Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.
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Japan is the latest addition to the list, where you can travel if you are a stranded Indian national, Overseas Citizens of India cardholder with a Japanese passport, and any Indian national with any type of valid Japanese visa, subject to guidelines set by the Government of Japan at the time of travel.
However, while some countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have imposed a complete ban on travel to and from India, others such as Hong Kong has temporarily banned Air India’s Vande Bharat flights, and Dubai has banned Air India Express flights, after both carried Coronavirus positive passengers. As per reports, South Africa, which is all set to resume travel from October, is not likely to allow travellers from India, and the European Union has also not identified India as a safe country yet.
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Expressing uncertainty towards the regular operation of international flights, Puri recently told Indian Express, that it is still difficult to anticipate when all the countries will allow people from India to enter their lands. “In our case, we started with a mandatory 14-day quarantine — seven-day institutional and seven-day self-quarantine. Now we have introduced an innovation if you are carrying a certificate of an RT-PCR test done in the last 96 hours you can go through the green channel. We are opening up these things so that we move towards normalcy.”
Since the resumption of air travel from May 25, the government has been slowly relaxing norms with every Unlock. As of now, it has allowed domestic flights to operate at a capacity of 60 per cent of the pre-COVID-19 numbers, unlike the earlier 45 per cent. Moreover, it has also allowed airlines to serve in-flight meals and decide on the baggage rules, as earlier only one baggage per person was allowed to be checked-in.
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