India has finalized a bilateral air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka for the operation of special international passenger flights between the two countries, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Saturday.
“India has finalized an air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka, making it the 6th such arrangement in SAARC region & the 28th in total. All the eligible passengers will be able to travel between the 2 countries in the near future. Travel safe!,” India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation Ministry announced on Saturday.
Under an air bubble pact between two countries, special international passenger flights are to be operated by their airlines into each other’s territories under restrictive conditions, according to media reports.
India is Sri Lanka’s largest tourism inbound market before the COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions halted regular passenger air travel between two countries. The scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the pandemic.
However, special international passenger flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May last year and under bilateral air bubble arrangements since July.
India has air bubble arragemnts with 28 countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, the UK and the USA.