Passengers returning from Ukraine can travel via Qatar, says Centre

Separately, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said special flights to the eastern European nation will resume whenever it reopens its airspace.

Passengers returning from Ukraine to India can travel via Doha under India's bilateral air bubble agreement with Qatar, India's embassy to the Gulf nation announced on Thursday, citing information received by it from the civil aviation ministry.

Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia (PTI file)

“Government of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation has allowed passengers traveling from Ukraine to travel by transit under India-Qatar bilateral air bubble arrangement,” India in Qatar posted on Twitter.

While the tweet did not mention this, the announcement will come into effect once Ukraine reopens its airspace, which it closed after Russia, earlier today, launched a ‘military offensive’ against its neighbour.

Meanwhile, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said special flights for Ukraine will resume once Kyiv nation reopens its airspace.

“Flights were flown to Ukraine earlier. Today also flights were flown but after three hours, once things started escalating, those flights returned. Whenever the airspace opens, we'll fly again,” Scindia said, according to news agency ANI.

Scindia was speaking after the Indian embassy in Kyiv announced cancellation of all scheduled special flights to the Ukrainian Capital after the country closed its airspace.

Earlier today, due to the closure, an Air India special flight was forced to return to Delhi. The airline was scheduled to operate several special flights--it successfully operated the first on February 22--to evacuate Indian nationals from the crisis-hit country.