While Indians can fly to 18 countries now, under the newly formed travel bubble, there are some where entry is still restricted. By Tanvi Jain
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After two recent additions of Ukraine and Bangladesh, India has now managed to form bilateral air bubble with a total of 18 countries, including, the United States, the United Kingdom, the UAE, the Maldives, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Qatar, Nigeria, Oman, Iraq, Kenya, and Bhutan.
As per reports, while three Bangladesh based airlines — US-Bangla Airlines, Novo Air and Biman Bangladeshi Airlines – are all set to resume flights to India from October 28, the later will be operating, SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Vistara flights.
Similarly, Air India has also added more flights between Delhi and Newark, and is operating flights between London and cities such as, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Kochi, Goa and Ahmedabad, as well. And, under the India-Oman travel bubble, SpiceJet has announced flights between Muscat and Delhi, and Muscat and Ahmedabad, from October 22.
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Moreover, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier revealed that negotiations for a similar bubble are also in process with 13 more countries, including, New Zealand, Italy, Israel, Australia, Philippines, Kenya, Singapore, Russia, Thailand and South Korea.
However, there are certain countries that have still not granted Indian carriers, permission to enter their territory. For example, Hong Kong has banned Air India and Vistara for the whole month, starting October 17, after few passengers were tested positive upon arrival. The country had earlier banned Air India flights from September 20 to October 3 and August 18 to August 31, as well.
Moreover, the current air bubble between India and Germany is also under suspension after a recent fallout over the number of flights. However, Air India has in a tweet confirmed that it will operate flights from October 26, 2020 to March 28, 2021. “Air India will operate flights between India-Germany from 26th Oct’ 20 to 28th March ’21. Bookings open through AI website, Booking offices, call centre and Authorised Travel Agents.”
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Furthermore, Dubai has also resumed Air India flights recently, after an earlier ban that was imposed over the emergence of coronavirus cases onboard. However, it has refused to accept test results from four labs namely, Microhealth lab in Kerala, Suryam Lab in Jaipur, and Noble Diagnostic Centre and Dr P Bhasin Pathlabs (P) Ltd in Delhi.
Apart from this, even Saudi Arabia had last month banned flights to and from India amid surge in COVID-19 cases, but had later allowed Vande Bharat flights.
