India and Nepal on Friday, according to the Indian Embassy, authorised the resumption of scheduled flights between Delhi and Kathmandu under the Air Transport Bubble mechanism.
These regular flights will be operated by Air India and Nepal Airlines. The air bubble agreement between the two countries allows airlines operate foreign flights with no limitations.
“Happy to inform that the 2 Governments have approved resumption of regular scheduled flights between Delhi & Kathmandu under Air Transport Bubble mechanism.
@airindiain and Nepal Airlines shall be operating these daily flights. For schedules & ticketing, pls check their websites,” Indian embassy in Nepal tweeted.
Under this arrangement, all valid Indian visa holders (except tourist visa) and Nepalese, OCI/PIO cardholders of all nationalities and Indians.
Initially, there will be one flight each between the capital cities of the two countries – Delhi and Kathmandu. And the Air India which, in normal times, had a daily flight between Delhi and Kathmandu, will be taking a flight.
These flights will be following strict medical protocols as is being done with other countries. And this includes RT PCR test report of 72 hours right ahead of travels.
So far India has the air bubble arrangement with more than 20 countries and more are on the anvil.
It will help in moving not only the stranded citizens be repatriated but will also create connectivity for the people who need to travel either for businesses or for medical treatment.
According to the official spokesperson of MEA, Anurag Srivastava, “So far (December 3, 2020), almost 34.10 lakh Indians have been repatriated through different modes of the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM). And these include the flights organized by Air India, private and foreign carriers, naval ships, land border crossings as well the Indian Navy ships.”
Since July, India has established such bubbles with over 20 countries, including the US, the UK, France and Germany. Flights between the countries and cross-border movement of people through several checkpoints were suspended following the outbreak of COVID-19.