International Flights: Days after national carrier Air India said it will operate International Flights to Germany from October 26, both the countries have reached an equitable agreement on flights to be operated by airlines of India and Germany under the air bubble pact. While Lufthansa will operate 10 weekly flights — three each to and from Mumbai and Bengaluru, four to and from Delhi and, Air India will operate seven flights a week— five to and from Delhi and two from Bengaluru.

Recently, issues had occurred regarding the number of flights being operated by Lufthansa and Air India between the two countries. These issues lead to a virtual breakdown of the previous agreement, and consequently, Lufthansa and Air India had to cancel their flights between India and Germany.

Taking to Twitter, Puri said, “Flights between India & Germany recommence under air bubble arrangement. Lufthansa will operate from Delhi (4 days), Mumbai (3 days) & Bengaluru (3 days). @airindiain will operate 5 weekly flights from Delhi & 2 every week from Bengaluru to Frankfurt.”

However, on October 16,  Air India informed that it will operate flights between India-Germany from 26th Oct’ 20 to 28th March ’21. The announcement had indicated that a breakthrough in ‘Air Bubble’s negotiations has been achieved between India and Germany.

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.Notably, Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been allowed under the Vande Bharat mission and the bilateral air bubble pacts formed by India with around 18 countries, including Ukraine and Bangladesh. Also, Read – Badminton’s World Junior Championship Cancelled Due to Coronavirus Pandemic.

‘Air Bubble’ agreements are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits.

However, special international passenger flights have been operating in India under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements formed between India and other countries since July.

India has formed such arrangements with 18 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, Kenya, Bhutan, the UK, and the USA.

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.Mean-while, India has seen a marginal improvement in its COVID-19 numbers in the past 24 hours, with both the number of positive cases as well as fatalities falling a little. It remained second in the global ranking of total cases, though, with over 7.7 lakh cases, behind the US’s 8.4 lakh. Over 1.1 lakh people have died of the disease across the country since the first case was reported in Kerala in January. The government of India on Thursday said it had earmarked ₹ 50,000 crores to inoculate the entire population once a vaccine is ready.