Air travel bubble helped 200,000 Indians fly to UAE

Dubai - The most recent statistics from the Indian mission revealed that roughly 8,000 people are travelling to and from UAE to India every day.

More than 200,000 Indian citizens have travelled into the UAE since the launch of the India–UAE air travel bubble, according to Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor.

Many of these incoming passengers had left the UAE on emergency repatriation flights amid the pandemic, he said.

The Indian envoy also confirmed that the air bubble arrangement between both countries has been extended to December 31 from October 31. “More than 620,000 have travelled to India since the launch of the India-UAE air bubble.”

The most recent statistics from the Indian mission revealed that roughly 8,000 people are travelling to and from UAE to India every day.

“We stopped registrations on the missions’ portals a while ago. People are travelling in large numbers for more normal reasons — catching up with family, vacation,” said Kapoor.

He added that the issue of stranded passengers entering the UAE Ambassador Kapoor has been largely resolved. “Entry into the country, visa requirements and stay are the prerogatives of the UAE government. I can say the current issue of visit visa holders who were not meeting with entry criteria has been resolved, and we do take up the issues as soon as they come up,” the envoy told Khaleej Times.

“These are unprecedented times for everyone in the world. Often, the passengers are stopped on the basis of a different set of issues each time and entry conditions also tend to change at the last minute. There were many who suffered due to an API glitch for example,” he added.

Advisories have been issued by airlines to prospective passengers to fulfil prescribed travel conditions before their arrival into the UAE, said the ambassador.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE