India and Bangladesh resume air services under air bubble agreement

India and Bangladesh resumed their air services on October 28, 2020, with two flights leaving for Dhaka under the air bubble agreement between the two nations.

The air service between India and Bangladesh was inaugurated at Hazrat Shahjalal airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh by Vikram Doraiswami, High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh, and Air Vice-Marshal Mafidur Rahman, Chairman of Bangladesh’s Civil Aviation Authority.

The first two flights left for Kolkata and Chennai from Dhaka on the morning of October 28, these flights are operated by US Bangla airlines. The resumption of air services has come as a relief to the people who travel between the two neighbouring countries. The move has also been especially supported by the people who need medical support in India.

#WheelsUp ✈️#IndiaBangladesh #AirBubble arrangement takes off today, 28 Oct 2020.

Big relief for #Bangladesh nationals desiring urgent travel to India, especially for medical purpose.

All visas, except Tourist, being issued.
Guidelines: https://t.co/k4OIZj8fQG pic.twitter.com/lZEv3OxOI8

— India in Bangladesh (@ihcdhaka) October 28, 2020

Key Highlights:

• While thanking the Civil Aviation Ministry, High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami acknowledged that the air services will be useful for the people with medical requirements and will help in strengthening people to people contact between the two nations.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh had earlier announced that 3 airlines of Bangladesh- US-Bangla airline, Biman Bangladesh and NovoAir will be operating 28 flights a week to India.

• From India, five carriers including Vistara, Air India, GoAir, Spicejet, and Indigo will be running 28 flights a week between India and Bangladesh.

• The air services have been resumed after nearly eight months between the two countries as the services were disrupted due to the pandemic.

• India High Commission has also started the visa services in all the categories except tourist visa for Bangladeshi citizens.

Air Bubble Agreement:

India has started an air bubble agreement with as many as 18 countries in order to resume and widen its international air services which have especially been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from Bangladesh, India and Germany also restarted flights under the agreement. Under this,  5 weekly flights will operate from Delhi to Frankfurt and 2 flights every week will be from Bengaluru and Frankfurt.