India has established a bilateral air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka for operation of special international passenger flights between the two countries. All the eligible passengers will be able to travel between the two countries in the near future. With this, India now has such pacts with 28 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, the UK and the USA.
“India has finalized an air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka, making it the 6th such arrangement in SAARC region and the 28th in total,” the Civil Aviation Ministry said. Air bubbles are temporary arrangements between two countries that will allow the movement of commercial passenger services between those countries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international flights are suspended. Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international passenger flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May last year and under bilateral air bubble arrangements since July.
