As India adds on to the list of countries with which it has created air bubbles in the recent weeks, it has now established an air travel bubble with Japan. This will allow Indian and Japanese carriers to operate services between the countries. The arrangement allows stranded individuals holding valid Japanese visas to travel from India to Japan, subject to the border measures and other protocols set by the Japanese government, and vice versa.

With this, India’s air bubble arrangement now extends to 13 countries including US, UK, France, Germany, Canada, the Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Nigeria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

All airlines will have to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Indian nationals with a particular visa category to enter Japan, before issuing the tickets. Under the arrangement, any stranded Indian nationals, all Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders, and individuals with valid visas issued by an Indian mission in any category covered under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines, are free to travel.

Union civil aviation minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, last month had announced the country has been negotiating with 13 other countries to establish air bubbles for international flight operations.

“These countries include Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. The ongoing negotiations will benefit stranded Indians and nationals of these countries,” he added.