In news– The flight operations between India and Bangladesh are set to resume under the Air-bubble agreement between both countries.
Key updates
- As per the pact, the operations will be resumed from 3 September.
- Flights under the air bubble will start with seven frequencies per week, for any country carrier.
- With this, 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 (90 – 95 per cent).
About Air bubble arrangement(pact)
- An air bubble is a bilateral arrangement with a set of regulations and restrictions in which the carriers of the two countries can operate international flights.
- This agreement is reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits.
- Due to Covid 19 international passenger flights to and from India remaining suspended since March last year.
- Therefore, India has entered into air bubble arrangements with various countries, including Bangladesh, for operating flights.
- 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.
- India had air bubble pacts with more than 25 countries, including the US and the UK, as of August 11.
Source: LiveMint
