International Flights Latest News: India has formed individual bilateral air bubbles with a number of countries including UK, US and UAE under the Vande Bharat mission phase 5.
Under an air bubble agreement that India has developed with the UK, the Virgin Atlantic travel bubble scheme will connect Delhi and Mumbai with London.
British air carrier Virgin Atlantic announced on Thursday that it will resume flight operations to Delhi and Mumbai from London from September 2 based on the air bubbles with India.
An air bubble is a bilateral agreement with a set of rules signed between two countries to operate international flights to repatriate their respective stranded citizens.
To date, India has set up air bubbles with the US, Canada, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Singapore, UK, Frankfurt, Paris, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, New Zealand, Philippines.
The central government said the country is planning to set up air bubbles with more countries in the coming days.
Although it will resume allowing air travel between these countries, there is still a restriction on entry into India.
The airline plans to start three flights a week from September 2 from Delhi to London. The Mumbai service will launch with four flights a week, two weeks later. Both destinations will have connections to New York JFK and will operate on 787-9 Dreamliner.
Airline stated that 2020 marks 20 years of flying between the UK and India and is glad to restart passenger services to India.
In addition to Virgin Atlantic, Indian air carrier SpiceJet has also reserved temporary slots to operate flight services to the UK from September under the air bubble agreement.