In November last, IATA DG Willie Walsh said during a press briefing that COVID-19 gave India a ruse to revise bilateral air service agreements unilaterally.

 Recently Global airline body IATA urged the Centre for “swift normalisation” of international flight operations and called for discontinuation of air travel bubbles. The plea came on a day when the health ministry’s revised guidelines for international travellers kicked in, allowing passengers quarantine-free entry into the country besides dispensing with the need for on-arrival RT-PCR tests. IATA’s regional VP for Asia Pacific Philip Goh said that, “IATA [International Air Transport Association] welcomes the opening of India to international travel without quarantine from today. We urge that this development be followed swiftly by the normalisation of scheduled international flights to and from India, and the discontinuation of India’s air travel bubbles. The resumption of scheduled flights was paused due to the Omicron variant wave and it is now time to move forward and normalise international air services”.

Because of the highly spread of covid, India banned international flights almost two years ago on March 22, 2020. The Centre subsequently unveiled the Vande Bharat mission for Indians stranded across the world and started gradually permitting a limited number of commercial flights by entering into a bilateral “air bubble” arrangement with some countries.

Philip Goh

The Centre subsequently unveiled the Vande Bharat mission for Indians stranded across the world and started gradually permitting a limited number of commercial flights by entering into a bilateral “air bubble” arrangement with some countries.

Today, it has tie-up with 35 countries. The air bubble system had come under criticism from international airlines and IATA as well. 

In November last, IATA DG Willie Walsh said during a press briefing that COVID-19 gave India a ruse to revise bilateral air service agreements unilaterally. Recently, IATA also appealed that India follow the example of other countries in the Asia Pacific region such as Thailand, Philippines, and Australia to ease travel restrictions and reopen international flights. Further Mr. Philip Goh added “It is time to follow what the science is telling us about the disease, its transmission, and that extreme border measures are no longer effective in keeping the virus out”.

IATA

Goh added “It is time to follow what the science is telling us about the disease, its transmission, and that extreme border measures are no longer effective in keeping the virus out”.