India and the UAE have agreed to allow their airlines to carry passengers on to-and-fro charter flights to be operated between the countries from July 12 to 26, the ministry of civil aviation said on Thursday.

Currently, an Indian carrier operating a repatriation flight from the UAE is not allowed to carry any passenger from here to the Gulf country. Similarly, a UAE carrier cannot carry passengers to India.

Many Indians who have valid residence permits of the UAE and are currently in India have been complaining on social media for the past few weeks about the lack of flights between the two countries.

India suspended all scheduled international passenger flights on March 23 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Air India Express CEO K. Shyam Sundar said on Twitter: “Happy to announce Air India Express has opened its flights between 12th and 26th July from India to UAE for sale to Indians with UAE Resident Permits.”

Sundar’s tweet came after the civil aviation ministry announced on Twitter:

“As part of the close strategic partnership between the governments of India and the UAE, and with a view to assisting UAE resident nationals who are at present in India to return to the UAE, the civil aviation authorities of both countries have agreed to operationalise the following arrangement from 12 July 2020.”