Indians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will no longer be needed to register with the Indian Embassy for travelling to India and can book directly with Air India Express, the airline said on Monday.
“As India and UAE are part of the Air Bubble agreement, registration of passengers is no longer required and the bookings may be done directly with Air India Express,” Air India Express wrote on Twitter.
Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that as many as 17.2 lakh Indians have been repatriated through different modes under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM).
“As of October 7, 17.2 lakh Indians have been repatriated through different modes under this VBM. The modes include, Air India, Air India-Express, Private and foreign carriers, chartered flights, naval ships and land-border crossing,” Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of the External Affairs said at the weekly briefing.
He added, “Under Phase-VII of VBM — which is presently operational since October 1 — 873 international flights have been scheduled from 25 countries to be operated during the course of this month. These include flights from 14 different countries with which India has a bilateral air bubble arrangement.”
The VBM started in early May to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus-induced travel restrictions. The mission is currently in its seventh phase.
