After establishing air bubble agreements with Kenya and Bhutan, India has now established an air bubble arrangement with Oman to further widen the scope of international air travel as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. Under a bilateral air bubble pact, airlines from both countries can operate international flights between each other with certain restrictions and regulations.
On Thursday, Hardeep Singh Puri, the union Civil Aviation Minister, took to Twitter to announce this new arrangement. “Further widening the scope of international air connectivity. Happy to announce that bilateral air bubble arrangement is now in place for flights between India & Oman, taking the number of such arrangements to 16. Carriers of India & Oman will operate between the two countries,” he wrote.
Further widening the scope of international air connectivity.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) October 1, 2020
Happy to announce that bilateral air bubble arrangement is now in place for flights between India & Oman, taking the number of such arrangements to 16.
Carriers of India & Oman will operate between the two countries.
The ban on international air travel was extended till October 31 by the Ministry of Home Affairs through an order detailing Unlock 5.0 guidelines. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued an order and extended the suspension on scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till October 31 after the guidelines were issued.
The order also mentioned that this will not affect international all-cargo and scheduled international flights that have the DGCA’s approval.
However, India has been negotiating and establishing bilateral air bubble arrangements with various countries to facilitate the movement of passengers. Oman is the 16th country with which India has such an arrangement.
India has already established air bubble arrangements with the USA, UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Qatar, the Maldives, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, Iraq, Japan, Nigeria, Kenya and Bhutan.
On Wednesday, Hardeep Singh Puri had announced that air bubble arrangements to help those stranded in other countries had been established with Kenya and Bhutan. He said, “Reaching out to stranded Indians. In order to further boost bilateral international air connectivity, Air Bubble arrangements are now in place with Kenya & Bhutan. Indian carriers will be able to operate to these countries. Carriers of these countries will be able to fly to India.”
India had launched the Vande Bharat Mission on May 6 to repatriate Indian citizens while also facilitating outbound travel from India.
Due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, India temporarily suspended domestic passenger flights in March and resumed them after a gap of two months on May 25. Scheduled international flights remain suspended due to the pandemic.