Written by Nihal Singh Dhingra, a grade 9 student.

‘Air Bubbles’ refer to an agreement between two or more countries to ferry their passengers back and forth. They are travel corridors and their aim is to restart commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended due to the COVID – 19 pandemic.

India has established ‘air bubbles’ with the US, France, UK, UAE, Canada and Germany. As per the deal, the United Airlines operated 18 flights between India and U.S.A. from 17 July to 31 July. Furthermore, France and Germany have also operated many flights before August. India is negotiating for such agreements with 13 more countries.

Now, India’s Home Ministry has said that passengers in counters that have “air transport bubble” agreement with India will probably not need to register with Indian missions before taking a flight to the country.

The government set up what’s called Vande Bharat Mission on May 6th to help Indians who were stuck in different countries to return to India. People who want to travel to India the Vande Bharat flights need to register themselves with the Indian Missions in the country where they are. However, these registrations may not be required on flights operating under Air Transport Bubbles arrangements.