India to sign agreement with Kenya and 12 more countries for special flights

India and Kenya has agreed on a deal to sign for special flights amid a lockdown of its airspace due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a news report by Daily Nation.

India's Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday that the Asian country will sign bilateral deals with more than a dozen countries to specifically allow flights into and out of their territories, in a quid pro quo understanding.

"We are now taking these efforts forward and are negotiating with 13 more countries to establish such arrangements," Hardeep Singh Puri said on Twitter.

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

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 18, 2020

The countries are Kenya, Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand.

This comes a week after Kenya's High Commissioner to India, Willy Bett, revealed to the Nation that he had proposed special unrestricted flights, especially those bringing emergency cases back home.

With India on lockdown since March, the airspace has been shut and only repatriation flights have been allowed under special circumstances.

The country's latest lockdown is supposed to last throughout August but with local cases rising by an average of 50,000 a day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi could extend it.