Diplomats, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders and Indian passport holders can travel in the United Newark-Delhi and San Francisco-Delhi sectors, one person familiar with the matter said. Meanwhile, Indian citizens with valid documents can travel on United India-EE flights. Currently, United only operates these two routes to India.
These are part of the travel arrangements under the “air bubble” that India announced Thursday with the United States, France and Germany. These are provisional arrangements to guarantee the continuity of the trip until the resumption of regular flights. Until now, United has been operating repatriation flights to India that fly without passengers and only cargo. Upon leaving, they were only allowed to bring foreigners.
After India announced the air bubble on Thursday, travel restrictions on who can travel on the flights of foreign carriers to and from India have been relaxed. Conversely, Air India is also expected to announce more flights, some daily as well, between India and the US in the coming days. To be sure, these are all regulated flights where everyone who can fly in and out of India will be according to government regulations.
Delta has yet to say when it plans to resume its Atlanta-Mumbai connection.
Lufthansa and Air France are also awaiting comment on their plans and who can travel on their flights to and from India under the bubble.
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“United will operate 18 flights between Delhi and the US. From July 17 to 31 (Delhi-Newark daily and Delhi-San Francisco three times a week). Air France will operate 28 flights to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore from July 18 to August 1. Lufthansa will also be operating, “a spokesman for the aviation ministry said Thursday.
Air India President Rajiv Bansal said the average one-way VBM fare on flights between the United States and Canada used to be around Rs 1 lakh. “We reduced that by 25% to Rs 75,000. We will bring the rates below. Similarly, fares for VBM flights on routes in Europe and the UK will also decrease, “Bansal said.
Travel under the air bubble will also be regulated based on each country’s entry requirements, including India. It will be one step below normal flights prior to the pandemic.
Resumption of regular scheduled international flights will be considered once national air travel reaches the 50-55% mark.
India allowed domestic flights to resume after a two-month suspension on May 25 and is currently operating around 30% of the originally approved schedule. “Many international travelers from metropolitan areas like Delhi and Mumbai need to connect domestic flights to and from these hubs. Domestic travel is constantly increasing but we are still at the 30% mark. There are restrictions in many places as Mumbai has limited the number of daily domestic flights. Once we reach the 50% national capacity mark, we will consider resuming international time, “said aviation minister HS Puri.
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