‘Air bubble helped 200K Indians fly to UAE’

dubai — More than 200,000 Indian citizens have travelled to the UAE since the launch of the India–UAE air travel bubble, said Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor.

He added that many of these were incoming passengers who had left the UAE on emergency repatriation flights amid the pandemic.

The Indian envoy also confirmed that the air bubble arrangement between both countries has been extended to December 31. “Over 620,000 people travelled to India since the launch of the air bubble,” he said.

The most recent statistics from the Indian mission revealed that roughly 8,000 people are travelling to and from the UAE to India every day. “We stopped registrations on the missions’ portals a while ago. People are travelling in large numbers for more normal reasons — catching up with family, vacation, etc,” said Kapoor.

Over 620,000 people travelled to India since the launch of the air bubble.”

Pavan Kapoor

Indian Ambassador to the UAE

He added that the earlier issue of stranded passengers at the airports has been largely resolved.

“Entry into the country, visa requirements and stay, are the prerogatives of the UAE government. I can say the current issue of visit visa holders who were not meeting with entry criteria has been resolved. We will take up any issues as soon as they arise,” the envoy told Khaleej Times.

“Often, passengers are stopped on the basis of a different set of issues. Entry conditions also tend to change at the last minute. There were many who suffered due to an software glitch,” he added.