United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday expressed hope for resumption of pre-Covid flight services with India, noting that such measures would address issues such as airfare and lack of seats.
Ambassador to India Ahmed Albanna said during a press conference on Wednesday that the only thing that is facing us a little bit of a challenge is (of the issue) flights.
Noting that under the air bubble agreement, there is a restriction on carrying a certain number of passengers, he said, “Our main carriers are carrying only 30 per cent of their entitlement capacity under the air bubble agreement. And that’s what’s affecting the traffic and the price.”
He added that the UAE is working with the Indian authorities to see if travel can be made easier.
“I am sure that if we go back to the normal air services agreement, we will see a doubling of the number of passengers between the UAE and India,” the UAE envoy said.
When the air service agreement was suspended due to the COVID situation, the two countries came to an arrangement called the Air Bubble Agreement.
“There is a clause 24 in the air services agreement that says if the carriers reach 80 per cent it means they have reached 100 per cent. Indian carriers have reached 100 per cent,” he said.
“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 1,068 flights a week between the UAE and India. Of those, over 500 were Indian carriers and over 400 were UAE carriers. Both carriers were operating on almost 100 per cent volumes. It is very clear that when we reach 100 per cent, we will have to negotiate again. There were two rounds of talks, one in 2017 in Mumbai and one in 2019 in Delhi just before the pandemic,” the envoy said.
Responding to a question on the nature of cooperation between India, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the US on the Quadrant, the envoy said, “The Quadrant is an economic arrangement between four countries. It is an economic bloc that deals with economic cooperation and trade cooperation. focused on the four countries.”
“We’ve had a very strong tripartite arrangement. India, the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Now the US is part of this quadrant. Yes, there will be a meeting for the ministers. We’re just doing the preparatory work for the technical work. Once it’s done Done, see the minister.”
(with inputs from agencies)
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