Highlights
- After US and France, India expands air bubble to include UK and Germany
- Australia is still out of consideration for an air bubble with India, says source in India's civil aviation ministry
- Thousands of Australian permanent residents and citizens stuck in India are struggling to buy tickets
On July 30, India stretched the scope of its travel bubble created earlier this month with the US and France. Now bilateral air traffic agreements have been signed with the UK and Germany too, thereby streamlining air travel between India and these countries.
Australia is not part of this air bubble yet.
India’s Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri had tweeted late in June that carriers from the US, the UK, Germany, and France had approached the Indian government to allow them to operate flights to and from India, along the lines of India’s Vande Bharat Mission, which is currently repatriating its people in the post-coronavirus atmosphere.
Sources in India's civil aviation ministry have told SBS Punjabi that because of Australia's low intake of its residents and citizens stranded across the world, an air bubble between the two is currently out of the question.
"Australia is taking 5000-odd people from the world over. How can there be an air bubble with Australia?" the source asked.
An ‘air bubble’ or ‘air corridor’ is a bilateral agreement signed between two countries to allow their airlines to fly to and from each other. These flights are not regular commercial operations, hence not open to every passenger. In the current times dictated by coronavirus, these air bubbles are essentially meant for repatriation or evacuation flights.
Aside from a handful of flights operated to and from India by Australia’s national airline, Qantas, Australia’s air connectivity with India has largely been through India’s flag carrier Air India, which has been ferrying passengers under the Vande Bharat Mission since May.
Tickets for Air India repatriation flights sold out within minutes Source: Twitter/ Air India
“Australian permanent residents and citizens like us who have been stranded in India for months together, saw a ray of light when we read the news about India’s air bubbles with four countries,” says Sunita Khanna, a resident of Melbourne who has been struggling to buy a ticket for herself and her husband in New Delhi, India’s capital city.
She had travelled to India earlier this year and was due to return to Australia in March, but have had no luck after border closures and travel restrictions were put in place.
Like the Khanna couple, many Australian permanent residents and citizens stranded in India have been struggling to purchase flight tickets to travel to Australia. With Air India’s intermittent operations and a few charted flights operating in this sector, the demand has been unable to match the supply.
“When we read about more air bubbles with India, we thought we may now finally be able to fly back as there will be more airlines operating between India and Australia. But our disappointment seems to be endless,” Mrs Khanna adds.
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