Indians with any type of valid United Arab Emirates visa can now travel to UAE. This will be a part of the Indian government's ‘Air bubble’ scheme, which is valid until August 31. Under the ‘Air bubble’ scheme, the government will be connecting 16 Indian cities to Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi in UAE.
Though the regular passenger flight operations between India and UAE had been shut for about five months because of the coronavirus pandemic, India is operating special flights under Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate stranded nationals from UAE.
The ticket bookings for flights from UAE to 18 destinations in India from August 16 to 31 opened on Tuesday (August 11) at 10 am (local time).
"Very pleased to see the @MoCA_GoI notification this evening as per which both Indian & UAE airlines can now carry any Indian national holding any type of valid UAE visa from India to UAE! @IndembAbuDhabi @cgidubai @MoFAICUAE," Indian Ambassador to UAE Pavan Kapoor said.
These are the origin and destinations that Air India will be operating flights from:
Origin ------- Destination
- Kochi--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Delhi--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Kannur--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Kozhikode--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Mumbai--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Thiruvananthapuram--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Hyderabad--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Chennai--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Mumbai--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Tiruchirappali--Sharjah/Abu Dhabi/Dubai
- Mangaluru--Dubai/Sharjah
- Amritsar--Abu Dhabi
- Lucknow--Dubai
- Jaipur--Dubai
- Bengaluru--Dubai
- Varanasi--Dubai
(Click here for detailed schedule)
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, “Transport Bubbles” or “Air Travel Arrangements” are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services because regular international flights were suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits.
