Tanzania, Netherlands and Rwanda have been added to the list of countries with whom India now has an air travel bubble arrangement. This takes the total number of countries, to where Indians now can travel, to 21.
As Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier pointed out, air bubbles are "at a stage short of normal civil aviation activities." In other words, these flights are a little more evolved than the repatriation flights, but have not yet reached the 'normal' stage.
Under the arrangement, airlines from both the countries are allowed to operate a specified number of flights between cities.
Following is the list of the 21 countries:
Afghanistan, Bhutan, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Netherlands, Canada, Iraq, Kenya, Oman and Ukraine.
Even though domestic flights resumed in May, India has kept scheduled international travel suspended. It is now suspended till November 30.
Since May though, the government has been operating international flights under the Vande Bharat Mission repatriation exercise.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation had released guidelines on who can travel out, or travel to India, under the repatriation and travel bubble flights. A complete list of the guideline, specific to each country, can be seen here.
In October, the government had relaxed visa restrictions for international passengers, with only those on tourist visa now barred from entering the country.
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