International flights latest News Today: Air passengers planning to fly to Bangladesh, here comes a piece of good for you. After a long hiatus, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Saturday allowed the flights between India and Bangladesh to resume from September 3, 2021. Isuing a statement, the Ministry said that the passenger airlines can resume operations after four months under an air bubble agreement signed by the two countries. It must be noted that the air travel services between the two countries were suspended as Covid cases surged during the second wave of the pandemic earlier this year.
“The air bubble may be resumed w.e.f. 03.09.21 till resumption of scheduled international passenger flights,” MoCA letter read.
The Central government before announcing the operation of flights had imposed a number of restrictions for flights with limited passengers and strict health protocols.
“Passengers travelling from Bangladesh to India shall be mandatorily subjected to self-paid confirmatory molecular tests on arrival at the Indian airports concerned (port of entry). Therefore instead of a blanket restriction of 140 passengers per aircraft it is proposed that the capacity may be restricted to a specific percentage of the installed seat capacity of the aircraft (say 90 per cent or 95 per cent),” MoCA Said.
The ministry in the statement said that the international flights under the air bubble will start with seven frequencies per week, for any country carrier.
“This Ministry has examined the proposal in consultation with the health authorities of India and would like to propose resumption of operations under the Air Bubble with 7 frequencies per week (for carriers of either country),” Indian aviation ministry said.
Flights between India and Bangladesh to resume from September 3 under air bubble agreement after four months, as per Ministry of Civil Aviation
— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2021
The ministry, however, stated that the travellers holding tourist visas will not be allowed to travel to India.
“Government of India would be applicable to such passengers, as amended from time to time. It may be noted that passengers holding tourist visas are not allowed to enter India as on date,” MoCA stated.
Instead of a blanket restriction of 140 passengers per aircraft, the Civil Aviation Ministry proposed that the capacity may be restricted to a specific percentage of the installed seat capacity of the aircraft, for example 90% or 95%.
As per a report by Dhaka Tribune, the permission has not been limited to vaccinated persons and no quarantine requirement is specified. The only limiting fact is the number of flights, seven per side every week.
As per latest updates, domestic carriers such as SpiceJet, IndiGo and Air India will be operating flights to Dhaka.
The pact with Bangladesh, which came into effect from October 28, 2020, was valid till March 27, 2021, wherein Indian and Bangladeshi carriers were permitted to operate services between the two countries.
Under an air bubble arrangement between two countries, international passenger flights can be operated by their respective carriers into each other’s territories subject to certain conditions.
So far, India has air bubble pacts with more than 25 countries, including the US and the UK, as of August 11.
