Muscat – The government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international flights to and from India, hence revoking Air Bubble arrangements from March 27, 2022, according to Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Minister for Civil Aviation of India.

“After deliberations with stakeholders and keeping in view the decline in the COVID-19 caseload, we have decided to resume international travel from March 27 onwards. Air Bubble arrangements will stand revoked thereafter. With this step, I am confident the sector will reach new heights!” tweeted Scindia.

Indian expats in Oman have been eagerly looking forward to the reopening of commercial flights by India, which were discontinued since the beginning of the pandemic that resulted in a limited number of flights between India and other countries, including Oman.

Jamal Sadiq, a sales executive, was relieved to finally hear the news. “International flights were first suspended in March 2020 by India after a nationwide lockdown was imposed to tackle the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, each month the government would announce further extension of the ban. This caused immense trouble to most expats, as airfares skyrocketed across destinations in India.”

Surya Muduli, general manager, Royal Crown Hotel, said, “The authorities should have allowed private airline operators to restart their services which were grounded for the last two years. The worst affected were the working class and students who had to face high airfares and had to indefinitely postpone their travels.”

An official of Majan International Agencies Travel & Tourism, said, “We were expecting the Air Bubble to be removed soon as it has been a serious cause of trouble for travellers and mainly for the ones who travel in emergencies.”

Mohammed Adil, director of operations at First Link Consulting, said, “We are approaching the end of the pandemic. We have been hit hard economically over the past two years due to COVID-19. It was high time the authorities had a rethink on the decision. Hopefully, the pressure on airfares would ease and we all can think of flying frequently to our homes again.”