Governments of Maldives and India also agreed to establish the first Air Bubble in South Asia between the countries.

With this announcement, regular scheduled flights will commence between the two countries, enabling the further strengthening of the traditionally strong people-to-people contact. Relevant public health related requirements against COVID-19 will continue to be observed by both countries.

The first flight to travel through the air bubble will be a flight inbound to Male' from Delhi and Trivandrum. During the coming week, flights from Air India and Maldivian will also begin operations to connect various Indian cities to Maldives.

Foreign Ministry also highlighted the importance of the air bubble noting that it will make travel easier for a lot, especially for Maldivians seeking to visit India for urgently required medical treatment. Maldivians are allowed to travel to India to access medical treatment under a special permit during the pandemic, however the air travel bubble will expand access to medical treatment from India, and increase the convenience of patients and their families.

They further highlighted that the air travel bubble will also allow Indian tourists to travel to the Maldives and added that this was a great move forward in the recovery for the Maldivian economy as it witnesses a great number of tourist arrivals from India annually.

The Foreign Ministry asserted that with the air travel bubble, many Indian workers in the Maldivian healthcare industry will be able to return along with several other workers who were stuck due to the pandemic.