Air India Opens Booking for Outbound International Travelers, Here's the Eligibility Criteria

Indian airline carrier Air India has announced that they are now accepting bookings for passengers who are interested in taking international flights leaving from India. As per their announcement, Air India will be conducting flights to London, Singapore and select destinations in the US from the 8th of May to the 14th of May, 2020.

In order to be eligible for booking one of these flights, the passengers have to be:

- Nationals of the destination countries.

- Indian and foreign nationals who hold a valid visa of at least one-year duration of the country of destination.

- Green Card / OCI cardholders.

Addition terms and conditions for the flight are:

- The entire cost of travel will be borne by the passenger.

- Before purchasing the tickets, passengers are required to recheck their eligibility for travel by referring to the conditions on the respective country’s regulatory website.

- The passenger must ensure that they comply with all travel and health requirements of the country of destination.

- At the time of boarding the flight, passengers will have to undergo thermal screening as per health protocol. Only asymptomatic travellers would be allowed to board the flight

- Passengers have to undertake to directly bear the entire cost towards Quarantine charges at the time of arrival at the destination.

- Passengers will be travelling on these flights at their own risk.

- Passengers have to undertake that in case of deportation, the entire cost towards deportation penalty, return fare and cost of Quarantine will be borne by the passenger.

In a recent digitally held press conference, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had confirmed that Air India will be operating 64 international flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back stranded Indians from foreign countries. Going forward, the process of private airlines joining is possible as well.

Although allowed as a special case, Air India will charge the passengers for the ticket price, unlike the earlier rescue flights which were operated free of cost. Cost of tickets from London to Mumbai will be Rs 50,000, and cost to San Francisco will be Rs 1 Lakh.

This gives a breather to the airlines who are waiting for the government to lift the travel ban, which has exceeded more than 40 days. Since March 25, all the domestic air carriers have parked their planes due to the ban, suffering a massive economic setback. This is for the first time, govt has allowed airlines to operate flights on a chargeable basis.

The 64 flights planned include - 10 flights to UAE, two flights to Qatar, five to Saudi Arabia, seven to the UK, five to Singapore, seven to the United States, five to the Philippines, seven to Bangladesh, two to Bahrain, seven to Malaysia, five to Kuwait, and two to Oman.

Out of the 64 flights, 15 flights from 7 countries will come to Kerala, 11 flights will come to Delhi, 3 flights to Jammu and Kashmir and 1 Flight to Lucknow. It was also stated that this is a special mission, and all those who avail of this will be charged - and on arrival, all the passengers will have to be screened and will have to be subjected to 14 day quarantine period.

Although there is no confirmation, the government is in talks with airlines to resume the domestic air services in a staggered once the lockdown is lifted post-March 17.

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