With Vande flights facing curbs, India plans ‘travel bubbles’

With Vande flights facing curbs, India plans ‘travel bubbles’

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  24.06.2020

Pressure is mounting on India to allow foreign airlines to operate schedule passenger charters, as Air India is doing under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM). The US administration on Monday ruled Air India would require prior approval for operating flights to and from its soil from July 22 unless the issue of its airlines flying like AI between the two countries is resolved.

France has not been allowing passengers to fly on the India-Paris sector of VBM while permitting repatriation of Indian citizens on Paris-India leg of those flights since Monday. The European Union has initiated talks with India for its carriers resuming flights.

In response to the American and French moves, the civil aviation ministry on Tuesday said it is considering “travel bubbles” between India and the US, France, Germany and UK.

The India-US travel corridor could be the first to get activated between specific cities — Delhi and Mumbai on one side and New York, Chicago and San Francisco on the other — next month.

Quarantine restrictions for bubble flyers could be milder to facilitate quicker access to key categories of travellers, said sources. Some country pairs like Australia-New Zealand, which are in similar levels of the pandemic, are in advanced stages of creating the same.

AI seeks UAE nod to fly Indians to Dubai

Air India Express has sought clearance from the UAE to fly Indians working in Dubai from India on the India-Dubai leg of Vande Bharat flights. The Dubai government has allowed foreign nationals holding residency visas issued in Dubai to return to the emirate starting June 22, and will open its doors to tourists from July 7. TNN

US: Op rights of carriers impaired

The US department of transportation (DoT) on Monday said in an order that India “has impaired operating rights of US carriers and has engaged in discriminatory and restrictive practices with respect to US carriers’ services to and from India.” It specifically gave the example of Delta seeking permission on May 26 to operate charters like AI’s VBM and not getting the same till now. The DoT also said AI VBM operations to and from the US are more than half of its normal pre-pandemic schedule and that “AI may be using its passenger repatriation charters as a way of circumventing government of India (GoI)-imposed prohibition of all scheduled services”.

While the US action is from a month later, AI officials say 78 passengers booked on the Mumbai-Paris CDG VBM flight of Monday could not be flown due to the last-minute decision of France. “Monday flight went as ferry (without passengers) and came back full. On Tuesday also, our Mumbai-Paris CDG flight was used as ferry. Now we will be able to take passengers to Paris on VBM only when France allows us to do so,” said an AI official.

India on Tuesday said the request of countries like the US, France and Germany for their airlines to operate flights on the line of AI’s VBM are being considered. Discussions have been held with US authorities and their proposals were received last Friday.