Indian tour operators have sought the tourism ministry’s backing for scrapping the self-declaration ‘Air Suvidha’ form that air travellers are required to fill, and for further easing of rules for travel to India.
In a letter to the ministry, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) said it has heard from its association members that their clients and incoming overseas travellers are facing issues with the ‘Air Suvidha’ form.
The ‘Air Suvidha’ form was introduced by the ministries of civil aviation and health and family welfare after the Covid-19 outbreak. It was designed as a contactless, self-declaration portal for international passengers coming into India.
The industry body also said that the government should ease travel norms for incoming passengers in keeping with the guidelines being followed by the other countries.
“Travellers are finding it difficult to upload their low-resolution passports and vaccination certificates on ‘Air Suvidha’. Some are filling these forms at the last minute at airports, as those booking tickets online through platforms have no information that this is a mandatory requirement,” said Rajiv Mehra, president of IATO. “It is becoming a nuisance in certain cases. Airlines are insisting on these forms and no one is asking or checking for them at domestic airports.”
The ‘Air Suvidha’ form is mandatory for all international passengers. But after the resumption of scheduled commercial international air travel, travellers have been complaining about technical glitches and errors in uploading documents on the portal which, in some cases, have even led to flights being missed.
Sudhir Kumar, who runs restaurants in Delhi NCR, told ET that he missed his flight while returning to India from Thailand with his family as they could not fill the ‘Air Suvidha’ form on time. Rebooking of air tickets and hotel accommodation cost him around Rs 1 lakh more. “We did not have any information regarding Air Suvidha while traveling from New Delhi and even before coming to the Thailand airport. You have to download your passport copy and vaccination certificate in a compressed file and we were not carrying our laptops,” he said. “We wasted our time at the airport… and could not find a good internet connection. We had to buy tickets for the next day as we had missed our flight.”
Gaurav Jain, partner at Travel Solutions, an International Air Transport Association (IATA)-approved travel management company located in New Delhi, said the ‘Air Suvidha’ form is a “completely chaotic” exercise for those traveling to India from other countries.
“During our daily interactions with representatives of various international airlines, we know many Indians are missing flights back to India. This is a case with each and every international flight heading back to India,” he said. “Even as an agency we are fed up with filling up so many documents for our customers which are not even checked once they land in India. This is a completely futile exercise. Most of the countries have now done away with these kinds of forms.”
Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays, MICE and Visa, at
(India) Limited, said that to ensure smooth operation of the tour, the company updates its customers with all important information prior to their departure as a regular practice.
“The documents are required to be uploaded on the portal in a prescribed file size and specific format and this needs adequate time and high-speed internet. We advise our customers to upload their documents including passport, vaccination certificate and a negative RT-PCR certificate long before their departure to avoid last minute hassle,” he said.
In a tweet earlier this week, cosmetic hair transplant surgeon Satya Saraswat said the Air Suvidha portal is “mostly not working”. Another Twitter user @VijayRBrahmbhat tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister’s Office saying that the format of the form makes it difficult to complete.
Twitter user @ilikeit1984 tweeted to Delhi airport stating he was denied boarding at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris by Gulf Air because he did not have a printout of the ‘Air Suvidha’ form.
Another user @mjoshuaben said he was in Tel Aviv and flying back to India and that many Indians did not know about the form and were made to fill the form at the airport. “I helped one Israeli and he made it to the flight very late. Everyone was tense. When we landed, no one asked about it,” he said.
Emails sent to the ministries of civil aviation, health and tourism remained unanswered till the time of going to press.
Sabina Chopra, cofounder of Yatra.com, said the company has been in constant touch with its customers in order to guide them through the process and provide hassle-free solutions wherever necessary.
A spokesperson for MakeMyTrip said the company has been working closely with the authorities, airline partners and tourism boards to ensure that travellers are duly informed on evolving guidelines for a smooth flying experience.
Cleartrip said it has not received any specific queries about Air Suvidha or scenarios related to it.
