Question : Opening up of International Travel for Passengers

(a) whether the Government has opened up international travel for passengers and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has agreed upon any specific timeline for the same;

(c) the number of incoming and outgoing Vande Bharat flights country-wise along with the total number of passengers travelled under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM);

(d) the names of the countries with which the Government has agreed upon air bubbles along with the number of flights accommodated, Country and State-wise;

(e) whether VBM has revived the fortunes of Air India and its subsidiaries and if so, the details thereof?

The Minister of State (IC) in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Hardeep Singh Puri)

(a) & (b): Due to COVID-19 pandemic, there are restrictions on international flight operations to/from India. However, under the Vande Bharat Mission, special repatriation flights have been operated by Air India group and private Indian carriers, along with chartered flights being operated by both Indian and foreign carriers. Moreover, India has formalized Air Bubble arrangements with 24 countries as on 20.01.2021. These Air Bubble arrangements provide access directly or through transit facility to more than 100 countries. Resumption of regular scheduled international operation depends on many factors including the normalization of domestic air travel, behavior of Corona virus globally and entry restrictions imposed on Indian nationals by other countries. While the domestic travel is coming close to its pre-COVID level, the behavior of the Corona virus and its new strains require close monitoring so that the gains achieved in containing the COVID-19 pandemic in India are not lost. Further, the restrictions imposed by different countries on entry of Indians also imposes air connectivity limitations between India and the partner country.;

(c) & (d): As per information provided by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), till 31.12.2020, a total of more than 14,500 inbound flights have brought passengers to India. Out of this total, more than 6,000 flights have been operated by Air India Group while the remaining have been operated by private Indian carriers and foreign carriers. Name of countries from where evacuation has taken place till 31.12.2020 along with number of passengers is available in Annexure-A. The State wise number of repatriated Indians till 31.12.2020 is available in Annexure-B. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has formalised Air Transport Bubble arrangements with 24 countries as on 20.01.2021. The details are attached as Annexure-C.

(e) There has been severe adverse impact on revenue performance of Air India with drop of 67% in sales compared to last year as on 23/01/2021. Air Transportation Bubbles have been formalised with 24 countries but travel demand is relatively poor as compared to pre-COVID period because of quarantine and visa restrictions. Domestic operations are picking up with the permissible capacity deployment now raised to 80% of the pre-COVID level.;
There were negligible flight operations in the months of April & May, 2020 which have also severely impacted the financial performance of Air India.