Even after the 23 months of the Covid-19 pandemic the Indian government still doesn’t have an air transport bubble arrangement with South Korea.

Even after the 23 months of the Covid-19 pandemic the Indian government still doesn’t have an air transport bubble arrangement with South Korea. This has caused problem to Indians from travelling back home to visit their families because most are working in South Korea.

 Direct flights between the two countries were already suspended in March 2020. On this matter Kislay Kumar the president of the Indian Overseas Congress-South Korea added, “We have approached the Indian Embassy several times and have spoken to senior embassy officials, but there has been no progress on this issue. The Embassy Officials said they have spoken to the authorities, but they gave us no timeline for the initiation of the air transport bubble”.

Closely 14,000 Indians working and studying in the South-East Asian country, many of whom cannot afford the travel back home without the air bubble arrangement.

South Korea Flight

Closely 14,000 Indians working and studying in the South-East Asian country, many of whom cannot afford the travel back home without the air bubble arrangement.

Earlier, the travellers were paying between Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 for a round trip without layover to India, but now, just for a round trip with a layover of sometimes 11 hours they are forced to pay between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh. Many of the travellers were expressing their views, a PhD student said, “I had to pay Rs 70k for my return flight, when earlier I could pay less than Rs 50k for a return trip”.

Another PhD student said that, “I have just gotten a job here and I can’t afford the tickets. The indirect flights are too expensive on my PhD stipend only. I have not met my wife for more than two years. Unless the normal flight operations start, I can’t go back home”. According to the information transport bubbles are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services because regular international flights have been suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the East Asian and South-East Asian countries, India has transport bubble arrangements with only Singapore and Japan.

Kislay Kumar

Of the East Asian and South-East Asian countries, India has transport bubble arrangements with only Singapore and Japan.

Meanwhile India has such arrangements with 40 countries including Australia, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethopia, Finland, France, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Russia, Netherlands, Nigeria, UK, USA, UAE, Tanzania, Switzerland and Sri Lanka. As per as report it is said that the Indian embassy in Korea organised a video conference for the community on February 11, 2022, where they were told that there were issues pending from both the countries as a result of which such an arrangement has not materialised.

For this matter Embassy blamed the multiple Covid-19 waves in both the countries too for the delay. In January 2022 the Indian Overseas Congress-South Korea initiated two petitions to raise the voices of the community in Korea.

Indian Embassy

In January 2022 the Indian Overseas Congress-South Korea initiated two petitions to raise the voices of the community in Korea.