Day after Dubai barred it for flying Covid patient, AI Express back today
Air India Express said the suspension has come on account of ‘erroneous acceptance’ of passengers on the flights by the airline’s ground handling agents.
Day after Dubai barred it for flying Covid patient, AI Express back today
Last month, flights to Hong Kong operated by Air India were suspended for a fortnight for “carrying too many passengers infected with Covid19”.
A day after Dubai’s Civil Aviation Authority informed Air India Express that it might not be allowed to fly to its airports for 15 days from Friday after the airline carried a Covid-positive passenger from Jaipur on September 4, the low-cost carrier said it might resume its service to the emirate from Saturday.
Without revealing details of what led to the fast reversal, Air India Express tweeted: “Attention Passengers from/to Dubai! All Air India Express flights from/to Dubai will operate as per original schedule w.e.f tomorrow, September 19,2020.”
According to the Dubai authority, the passenger was allowed to board the flight to Dubai despite carrying a Covid-positive certificate issued by a diagnostic laboratory in Jaipur.
This is the second such instance involving AI Express and therefore the aviation authority — a jurisdiction with which an bubble is already established — after the airline had carried another passenger with a Covid-positive result from Delhi to Dubai on August 28.
The ground handling agencies deployed by Air India Express at Delhi and Jaipur are its sister concerns, Air India-SATS and Air India air transportation Services Ltd, respectively.
Earlier, the airline had tweeted that it had “submitted a letter to Dubai Civil Aviation Authority expressing its profuse apologies and detailing various actions taken in association with the concerned ground handling agents to protect against such lapse within the future”.
Last month, flights to Hong Kong operated by Air India were suspended for a fortnight for “carrying too many passengers infected with Covid19”.
India currently has bubble arrangements with 13 countries — the US, the UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, Iraq, Nigeria, Japan and Qatar.
The Centre is negotiating for similar arrangements with other countries, like Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Israel, Kenya, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
According to the UAE’s rules, passengers must have a test report certifying them Covid-negative to be accepted for any inbound flight.
In the suspension notice sent Thursday, the Dubai authority said: “Boarding a passenger with COVID 19 Positive test result for the second time is contrary to and is in violation of the laid down procedures and/or protocols concerning aviation to and from Airports within the Emirate of Dubai… Therefore, all operation of Air India Express to Dubai Airports is temporarily suspended…effective from 00:01 hrs/LT on Friday 18th September 2020 until 23:59 hrs/LT of 2nd October 2020”.
Air India Express said the suspension has come on account of “erroneous acceptance” of passengers on the 2 flights by the airline’s ground handling agents.
“The airline has reiterated the instructions to the handling agencies in India to strictly adhere to the regulation/SOP in reference to acceptance of passengers on the Airline’s flights. As an abundant precaution, the Airline has advised the handling agents to implement a three-tier checking mechanism to avoid any such lapse within the future,” it said.
Last month, speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange event, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri — in a clear regard to the Hong Kong move — had said that the Centre was getting to ask outbound flyers from India on international flights to possess a Covid test done before their flight.
