International operations will remain suspended in India till month-end but the special flight arrangements or ‘Air Bubble’ with countries like the US, France and Germany got a green signal from the government. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri confirmed The Daily Guardian’s story which we reported on Monday that the travel bubble would be announced by India this week and international flights will resume under bilateral Air Bubble agreements with other countries having certain conditions in the wake of Covid-19.
“Till international civil aviation reclaim its pre-Covid numbers, I think the answer will lie in the bilateral Air Bubble, which will carry a possible number of people under defined conditions as countries are still imposing entry restrictions including India,” said Puri.
The Aviation Minister also hinted at the resumption of international flights with at least three more countries amid this bilateral situation including a bubble with the UK soon, under which there would be two flights per day between Delhi and London. “We are at a very advanced stage between three countries and it is a work-in-progress. Air France will be operating 28 flights between Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Paris from 18 July to 1 August while the US will be flying 18 flights between 17 to 31 July, but this is an interim one. We have requested German carriers to permit flights to India and are processing it,” he added.
Earlier, the US, France and Germany had asked India to allow their airlines to operate flights like Air India’s Vande Bharat Mission. Both the US and France have stopped allowing people to fly on VBM flights to Paris and the US without permission from later this month.
Air Bubble is a travel corridor between two countries that wish to reopen their borders and re-establish connections with each other. This is an exclusive partnership considered between the countries that have either largely eliminated the virus or trust the testing numbers.