Lack of bilateral rights forced to stop Sgr-Sharjah flight from Mar 27: Go First
Go First on Tuesday said it has stopped operating Srinagar-Sharjah flight from March 27 as it does not have the requisite bilateral rights.
Airlines need bilateral rights — which are granted under air services agreement signed between the two countries — to operate scheduled international passenger flights.
Home Minister Amit Shah had inaugurated Go First’s Srinagar-Sharjah flight on October 23 last year, connecting Jammu and Kashmir with the United Arab Emirates after around 11 years.
“We were operating Srinagar-Sharjah-Srinagar flight under air bubble arrangement that was in place till March 26, 2022.
All air bubble arrangements were cancelled when India resumed scheduled international passenger flights on March 27, 2022,” Go First spokesperson said.
Scheduled international passenger flights operate under bilateral air services agreement signed between the two countries, the spokesperson noted.
“Go First stopped operating Srinagar-Sharjah-Srinagar flight from March 27 as it does not have the requisite bilateral rights.
Once we have the bilateral rights, we will resume operating flight on this route,” the spokesperson added.
From July 2020 onwards, India started forming bilateral air bubble arrangements with countries, including the UAE, to allow limited passenger flights under specific restrictions.
Even after such flying rights are allocated to an airline, it must have slots at both the airports in order to start flight operations.
