UAE expresses hope for resumption of pre-Covid flight services with India

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday, 24 November, expressed hope for the resumption of pre-COVID flight services with India. While speaking at a press conference, UAE Ambassador to India Ahmed Albanna cited a spike in airfare and dearth of seats as the carriers are not running at their 100% capacity. He said that the only thing that the two nations are facing a little bit of challenge is the issue of flights. 

“Under the Air Bubble Agreement, we are restricted to carrying a certain number of passengers. Our main carriers are carrying only 30% of the total capacity of their entitlement under the Air Service Agreement. And that is what is affecting the traffic and price,” Albanna said. 

The UAE ambassador went on to say that his country is working with Indian authorities to see if travel can be eased. He noted the limitations of people coming to India and stated that he is sure that the two countries will see double the amount of travellers between UAE and India if they decide to go back to the normal air service agreement. 

Albanna informed that the air service agreement was suspended due to the COVID-19 situation, following which India and UAE got into an agreement called the air bubble agreement. The envoy said that there is clause 24 in the Air Service Agreement which says that if carriers reach 80% then it means they have reached 100%. “Indian carriers have reached 100%,” he said. 

“There were 1,068 flights a week between the UAE and India before the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of that, over 500 were Indian carriers and over 400 were UAE carriers. Both carriers were running at almost 100 per cent. The clause is very clear that when we reach 100 per cent, we have to renegotiate. There were two rounds of negotiations, one in Mumbai in the year 2017 and one in Delhi just before the pandemic in 2019," the envoy added.

UAE, India and Israel have 'very strong' trilateral agreement

Further, while answering a question on the nature of cooperation on Quadrant between India, UAE, Israel and the US, Albanna said that the Quadrant is an economic agreement between four countries. It is an economic bloc that concentrates on economic collaboration and business collaboration between the four countries, he added. The UAE envoy also said that India, UAE and Israel have had a “very strong” trilateral agreement. There will be a meeting for the ministers, involving the US as well, Albanna said adding that the four countries are doing the preparation work for now for technical work. 

“Once that is done, the minister will meet,” he added. 

(With inputs from ANI)