MUSCAT: As India and Oman has agreed on the air bubble travel arrangements, airlines from both the countries have announced the Indian cities they will be carrying passengers.

Air India will be carrying passengers from Muscat to Kochi, Calicut, Kannur, Trivandrum, Bangalore Mangalore, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Trichy, Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai.

SalamAir will carry passengers from Muscat to Calicut, Trivandrum, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Jaipur.

According to Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority, flights from both the countries are allowed to operate regular flights from Muscat International Airport to 11 Indian cities at a rate of two flights per week for each airline. “Total number of passengers should not exceed 10,000 per week by the carriers of each side,” CAA added. On Thursday, Oman reopened its airports for international flights after seven months of closure.

What is an air bubble? 
In order to mitigate a host of quarantine and Covid-10 testing rules in arrival destinations, governments are implementing “air bubble” agreements between countries. Air bubbles or travel corridors are systems established between two countries that perceive each other to be safe and allow carriers of both the countries to fly passengers either way without any restrictions.
It is different from repatriation flights, which are only one way and the passengers have to register themselves with the embassy to board such flights. However, for air bubble travel there are no such procedures required.