COVID-19: Russia resumes international air travel with four countries including India

In its recent schedule update, Russia restored the international air travel with four countries which includes India, Finland, Qatar, Vietnam, although on a reciprocal basis. According to sources of ANI, Russia on Friday eased the COVID-19 travel restrictions that were placed to curb the mutant variants of coronavirus, reopening its border for the overseas passengers. Travellers with a  residence permit will now be able to fly to and from Moscow, the non-residents, however, will still face restrictions. Scores of international air carriers were scheduled to start flying this week. The tourism and business visa holders continue to be barred. 

In a tweet, Russian Embassy in New Delhi informed about the ease of the restrictions, citing low cases on record in all four countries. Finland and Qatar as of January 29 registered 500 confirmed cases of COVID-19, meanwhile, India recorded only 12,000 cases. According to Russian government’s Aeroflot, the overseas flights to and from Delhi, Hanoi, Doha, and Helsinki, are expected to operate twice a week, with an exception to Moscow-Doha flight that will be operational thrice a week.

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In an official release, the Russian Embassy wrote:  "According to the decision of the Russian COVID-19 Emergency Response Centre dated January 16, 2021, the Russian Government issued a directive on January 25, 2021, allowing to restore international air traffic on a reciprocal basis with a number of foreign states, including India.” 

Tickets now available

As per the official announcement, the Qatar Airways, Air India, Finnair, Vietnam Airlines, and other planes that fly to these four destination will restart services for the international travellers. Ural Airlines, meanwhile, will operate as per the codeshare agreements with other airlines. The tickets for this destination are now available on the Aeroflot’s website for all four routes. According to o sources of TASS, Aeroflot is also expected to resume flights to Helsinki starting January 28, which will operate twice weekly. Meanwhile, with respect to Indian travellers, the Russian embassy informed: "Issuing of visas of all categories (including student visa) to enter Russia via air checkpoints is resumed for the Indian citizens, as well as for persons who have a residence permit.” Furthermore, the embassy reiterated that the passengers must arrive with a mandatory COVID-19 negative PCR test. 

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