Bilateral air bubbles will kick off international air travel: Hardeep Singh Puri

Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that bilateral air bubbles will be the way forward in resuming international travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I think the answer is bilateral air bubbles – which will carry a number of people but under defined conditions – as countries continue to impose entry restrictions including India,” Puri said at a press conference.

Puri said Air France will operate 28 flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to Paris from July 18 till August 1, while United Air will operate 18 flights from Delhi, Mumbai to Newark till July 31.

Scheduled international passenger flights have remained suspended in India since March 23 due to the pandemic. India is in talks with the US and Canada and some countries in European and Gulf regions for establishing individual bilateral bubbles.

“Domestic flights are operating at 33%. We have to navigate a difficult terrain,” Puri said. The minister appreciated Air India for carrying out a massive evacuation mission to bring back stranded Indians from several countries across the world amid the Covid-19 crisis.

“The Vande Bharat Mission is currently in the fourth phase. It involves 619 flights which will bring back more than two lakh Indians. We are evacuating about 20,000 people every day,” Puri said.

He said 687,467 people have been brought back so far out of which Air India carried 215,495. Private carriers brought back 12,258 Indians while 135,000 used private charters to return home.

Air India’s chairman and managing director Rajiv Bansal said the airline operated 1,103 flights from 71 cities across 53 countries to evacuate Indians.

“Almost 50% of those were from West Asia and most of them flew to Kerala,” he said.