Amid Vande Bharat, Vistara to start 'air bubble' flights from India to UK, Germany, France

In sync with Centre's Vande Bharat Mission, private carrier Vistara is planning to start flight operations from India to the UK, Germany, and France, based on the individual bilateral air bubbles. This development comes two days after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has announced that Indians holding any type of valid visa can travel to the US, Canada, UAE and the UK under the bilateral 'Air Bubbles' agreement with these countries.

Earlier in July,  India had also established air bubbles with Germany and France. Vistara got its second B787-9 wide-body aircraft on Saturday. It had received its first B787-9 aircraft in February. According to sources, Vistara has already got the slots at the Heathrow Airport in London. The flights between Delhi and London are likely to be announced in the next few days

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Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said in July that an air bubble arrangement was being established with France on an experimental basis, besides apprising about the ongoing negotiations with Germany.

Speaking about the resumption of international travel, Puri had said in a press conference that bilateral air bubbles are the only way to go forward until the international situation normalises.

"Bilateral air bubbles is the way forward to establish international flight connectivity. These will be present until international aviation becomes normal. Many countries still have travel restrictions. We will operate in air bubbles," said Hardeep Puri.

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What is a bilateral air bubble?

A bilateral air bubble is when specific countries mutually decide to open the travel corridor between them, based on understanding and partnership. Given the current Coronavius situation in the country, a bilateral air bubble is signed between two nations who agree to allow inbound and outbound flights between their countries. 

This sort of agreement helps a host country acknowledge that they are well aware of the pandemic situation of the other country, and would still want to go forward and allow their passengers to travel to their nation. This mutual understanding is important to ease air travel restrictions for incoming passengers, who have to follow a select protocol keeping in mind the pandemic situation of the host country.

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