Does India allow domestic flights through other countries?
 

Recently I've noticed that when searching for domestic flights some of the flights are routed through other countries. E.g, searching for BOM-COK on kayak shows EK, GF, UL, and KU options going through their hubs.

Has anyone taken such a flight?

You mean does India have a ban against all cabotage without any practiced exemptions for some foreign carriers/countries? Not sure yet (although I do expect that there have been some given what I've seen with bilateral negotiations involving the Indian government and some regional countries), but I've certainly seen it in practice and do know that in at least some other transport matters India has previously granted some cabotage law relaxations.

I do know that in at least some prior years it was not uncommon for Indians to fly from Delhi to Calcutta via Nepal on Indian carriers as it was cheaper -- not an example of a carrier needing to exercise cabotage rights but definitely an example of a domestic carrier's domestic passengers transiting a foreign country.

I wouldn't deny having come across an option to fly BOM-SHJ-GOI and return on AirArabia, for a fare cheaper than the direct flight, last Diwali..! :D

I think it is not practically possible with any country other than Nepal where Indian national need just any ID card issued by Govt. For all others, you need a passport... and even if carrier allows it, immigration authorities may have you detained for not having a valid visa.

The visa issue and limited passport holders automatically work as cabotage ;)

I recall that the Modi Group set up an outfit in Nepal, but for cargo? I suppose the heavy monsoon there will nix any reliable operation.

you will need a passport and depending on the rules of the country being transited possibly even a Visa depending on your citizenship...

for transit you may not need a visa but there is no way they would let you board without a passport....

Has anyone done such a flight?

There are exceptions to that. Air India has previously been granted legal authorization to transport some persons from the US or Europe to India without passports. It's on a case by case basis and there are some routines involved when it has been done.

For refugees? BTW congrats on 70K.

Yes these are the persons who have been deported and have "lost" the passport. They are issued temporary travel authorization by the local Indian embassy, valid only for travel to India (after proving themselves as Indian nationals).

And for those who book domestic flights via other countries (other than Nepal), they certainly know that a passport would be required and most likely would be taking it with them. But with fares in India being quite low, I doubt if any are doing this.

My intra-India tickets involving LEH/IXJ/SXR tend to be at a higher cost per economy class mile flown than on my intra-US trips of comparable distance.

What do you make of that? Apparently one person from BOM reported that it would be cheaper than a direct BOM-GOI fought during Diwali. If you have a passport and want to save a penny at the expense of time, some will do those kind of things and have.


Not only those. For example, other Indian authorizations have been provided to foreign citizens, including on the direction from PMO. The first time I knew about this in relation to India was for funeral arrangements where certain foreign-citizens were to be assisted in their attendance only to have to be supplied with US or EU passports to depart back.