- International Flights has begun between India and Saudi Arabia as the two countries agreed to create an air corridor under “Travel Bubble” between them.
- India has an air bubble agreement with 35 countries
- India has suspended the scheduled international passenger flight operations in India till January 31 due to the surge in Covid-19 cases
As regular scheduled flights remain suspended in India, thanks to the new variant of Covid-19 Omicron, India has announced a new bubble flight agreement with Saudi Arabia. Passengers will be able to fly between India and Saudi Arabia, under the new air travel bubble agreement soon. The Indian Embassy in Riyadh has said that this agreement will come into effect starting January 1, 2022.
This means that interested travellers may be able to travel to and from Saudi Arabia from January 1 onwards. Saudi Arabia is the 34th country to have an air travel bubble agreement with India. The other 33 are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine, UAE, Australia, Ethiopia, Finland, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Afghanistan, France, Germany, Iraq, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, USA, Japan, Nepal, Netherlands, and Uzbekistan.
India’s scheduled international passenger flight operations are suspended until January 31, 2022. Out of the ten countries that the Indian government had proposals for air travel bubble agreement, two have already been confirmed, and these are Saudi Arabia and Australia. It is expected that New Zealand and Thailand will also sign air travel bubble agreements with India.
An official statement said, “India has created an air bubble arrangement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Indian carriers and carriers of Saudi Arabia are now permitted to operate flights between India and Saudi Arabia and carry passengers on flights defined in the agreement. Traffic carried to/from India shall comprise of passengers originating from/destined to Saudi Arabia only, and similarly, traffic carried to/from Saudi Arabia shall comprise of passengers originating from/destined to India only.”
Who can fly on air bubble flights between India and Saudi Arabia?
From India to Saudi Arabia:
- Nationals/residents of Saudi Arabia;
- Any Indian national or national of Nepal or Bhutan holding a valid visa of Saudi Arabia and destined for Saudi Arabia only. It would be for the airlines concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Indian/Nepalese/Bhutanese nationals to enter Saudi Arabia before the issue of ticket/boarding pass to the Indian/Nepalese /Bhutanese passenger.
From Saudi Arabia to India:
- Indian nationals or nationals of Nepal or Bhutan in Saudi Arabia;
- Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cardholders holding passports of any country. It would be for the airlines concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Non-Indian nationals to enter India with a particular visa category before issuing of ticket/boarding pass to the passenger; and
- Saudi Arabian nationals (including diplomats) holding a valid Indian visa as per extant guidelines.
