Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: In a relief to lakhs of people stuck in West Asia since Saturday, UAE’s Emirates, flydubai and Etihad from Monday started operating a few special flights, including some to India.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) too asked Indian operators to resume flights to airspaces that are open like Oman and Saudi Arabia, with the Air India Group and IndiGo starting services from Tuesday. There is a massive demand for both regular flights and charters from Indians stranded in strife-torn West Asia but operations hinge on the situation in the region. IndiGo has planned 10 special relief flights from Jeddah to India on Tuesday “to facilitate the return of stranded passengers, subject to required approvals and prevailing airspace conditions,” a govt statement said.From Tuesday, Air India Express will resume scheduled flights between Muscat and Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangaluru, Mumbai and Tiruchirappalli. Air India has resumed US, Canada, Europe and UK flights.Emirates said it is “accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority, and those who have been rebooked to travel on these limited flights will be contacted directly by Emirates.”Its Monday flights included one each to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Fifteen passenger aircraft of Etihad also took off, including one each to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kochi, from Abu Dhabi “within a three-hour window” as the airport resumed partial operations.“Special arrangements are being made to facilitate the movement of stranded passengers. Airlines are deploying additional capacity where required and coordinating closely with foreign aviation authorities and Indian missions abroad to ensure safe and orderly passenger movement,” the aviation ministry said in a statement.Air India has contacted Muscat authorities to operate charters (this sector is served by AI Express that has single aisles in its fleet) as the group wants to deploy wide body aircraft to get as many people out as possible. AI also plans to resume regular Jeddah flights from Tuesday using its up to 342-seater Boeing 777s. IndiGo is also planning multiple flights as it is also getting a large number of charter requests. Air India has received a number of requests to operate charters to Muscat, mainly from those stuck in the UAE.“Muscat is served by AI Express and AI does not operate there. AI wants to deploy wide body aircraft as apart from flying more people, they have a longer range for diversion in the region that is currently contained by airspace closures. A wide body can have its diversion airport in Mumbai or Ahmedabad. We are awaiting a word from Muscat authorities,” said a person in the know.Gautam Sahni, a leading Indian charter operator and MD of Subha Aviation, said: “We are getting an unprecedented number of group charter requests from Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and other places for flying to multiple destinations across India. We are looking at windows when the UAE airspace is open to operate these flights and file for permissions accordingly. The indication we are getting is that that may happen in a day or two.”
