India forms air bubble with Kenya & Bhutan also; AI to start Delhi-Newark nonstop from Oct 1

NEW DELHI: Schedule international flight suspension has been further extended till October-end. However, international flights will continue under Vande Bharat Mission and the air bubble arrangements India is entering into with an increasing number of countries.

“In order to further boost bilateral international air connectivity, air bubble arrangements are now in place with Kenya and Bhutan. Indian carriers will be able to operate to these countries. Carriers of these countries will be able to fly to India,” aviation minister H S Puri Tweeted Wednesday. India already has travel bubbles in place with countries like the US, UK, Canada, France, Qatar,

Afghanistan

, Maldives and the UAE.

Air India is adding flights under the air bubble arrangement. From October 1, it is starting a thrice-weekly nonstop on Delhi-Newark (EWR)

route

and will deploy Boeing 787 Dreamliner for this flight. This is a new route for AI from Delhi, its base for nonstops to several North American destinations like New York JFK,

Washington

, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and San Francisco.

A senior AI official said: “Under the air bubble agreements, we have started flights to London from many Indian cities like Kolkata, Cochin and Goa. We have also launched cargo flights on routes like Delhi-Seoul; Delhi-Dhaka; Kolkata-Dhaka; Chennai-Singapore and Bengaluru-Singapore.”

On Wednesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued an order extending the suspension of schedule international passenger flights till October-end. “This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA. However, international schedule flights may be allowed on selected routes on case to case basis,” a circular issued by the regulator Wednesday said.

India has a bubble agreement with Germany also but following a disagreement on the number of flights that Lufthansa operate under the same has led to the German carrier cancel all its India flights till October 20. “As against Indian carriers operating 3-4 flights a week, Lufthansa operated 20 flights a week. In spite of this disparity we offered to clear 7 flights a week for Lufthansa which was not accepted by them. Negotiations continue,” a senior DGCA official said.
About India flights, the Lufthansa website says: “The approvals for Lufthansa flights between Germany and India have not been extended for October 2020. Due to the same, Lufthansa has cancelled all flights between Germany and India from September 30 until October 20, 2020. Kindly rebook your flight as per the updated schedule on our website or alternatively use the option of refund. We deeply regret the inconvenience in these unprecedented times.”

“Lufthansa flights from October 21, 2020, onwards are available for booking to / from India subject to approvals and under the air travel bubble offered by the Indian government.… All Lufthansa flights to/ from India are in strict compliance with the exit and entry regulations applicable at the origin and destination as defined by concerned authorities,” the German airline’s website adds.

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