A couple of days back India had moved to the final stages of completing the travel bubbles between India and various countries. The government has now given the nod to travel portals for listing the Vande Bharat flights on their platforms. Earlier, passengers were allowed to book only on the company website. This does come as a sign of relief as many people were facing problems with the Air India website. 

India has formed travel bubbles with Germany, France and USA, the UK and are in similar talks with other countries. 

Domestic operations on 22 July 2020, Day 59 till 2359 hrs.

Departures 808
62,151 passengers handled.
Arrivals 805
61,324 passengers handled.
Total movements 1,613
Footfalls at airports 1,23,475
Total number of flyers 62,151 pic.twitter.com/sktWvj7SSI

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) July 23, 2020

Revised schedule and indicative airfares of Phase 4 of #VandeBharatMission pic.twitter.com/JY7dbhgbjd

— India in SaudiArabia (@IndianEmbRiyadh) July 15, 2020

However, that doesn't mean everyone can fly. Not yet. The civil aviation ministry clarifies this regarding transport bubbles: “Before making reservations, the passengers must confirm that they would be allowed entry into the destination country”.  

As of now, people who are thinking of travelling for leisure should think twice because these are repatriation flights aimed at helping people get home, and there are many restrictions in place. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, flights to the US can carry US citizens, legal permanent residents, foreign nationals holding US visas and Indians who have the permission to travel abroad as per the home ministry guidelines. Rules for France and Germany are smilar. Among the few who can fly are OCIs, Indian migrant workers in other countries who have been laid off, or a married couple where one spouse is an OCI car holder, amongst the other scenarios. 

Read: Up in the Air