UAE suspends flights from India amid Covid surge

NEW DELHI: With Covid situation worsening, more countries are imposing travel restrictions on the country. After the UK travel curbs, the United Arab Emirates has barred the entry of travellers from India for 10 days from April 25 till May 4 (both days included).
Indians can enter the UAE — even as transit passengers — only if they have stayed in some other country for at least 14 days, during this period.Etihad says the restriction period “may be extended”. But it will continue to operate flights to India, carrying flyers from Abu Dhabi.
“Following the latest UAE government directives, from April 25, 2021, passenger travel from India to the UAE has been suspended for 10 days, which may be extended. Etihad will continue to operate flights to India, carrying passengers both from our network and from Abu Dhabi. Etihad will not be permitted to carry passengers from India, however UAE nationals, Diplomatic Passport Holders & Official Passport Holders or those holding an Official Delegation Letter are exempted from the UAE entry restriction. These passengers will be subject to acceptance and quarantine conditions,” an Etihad spokesperson said.

“Cargo flights will continue to operate in both directions without any impact. Etihad is working closely with impacted guests to notify them of the changes to their itineraries…. This is an evolving situation and we will update guests as more information becomes available. Etihad regrets any inconvenience caused to its guests by these temporary restrictions,” the Etihad spokesperson added.
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Emirates said on its website: “Effective April 24, 2021, and for the next 10 days, Emirates flights from India to the UAE will be suspended. Furthermore, passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE.”
Delhi-Dubai and Mumbai-Dubai are among the international busiest routes even during the pandemic. Both Indian and UAE carriers fly between multiple Indian cities and four in UAE — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.

“We expect lot of rush to fly to UAE over Friday and Saturday to reach there before the 11.59 pm on Saturday (April 24) deadline (local time). Only those who have had their Covid test within 48 hours of the flights they wish to take and have a negative report will be able to beat this deadline,” said an airline official.
Since private jets and charter flights are allowed, demand to travel from India to UAE on them will increase.
While hiring an Airbus A320/Boeing 737 type aircraft costs about Rs 40 lakh (for a Delhi-UAE-Delhi flights), smaller business jets cost about Rs 8-10 lakh less, said industry honchos.
Charter firm JetSetGo chief executive and founder Kanika Tekriwal said she had received about 100 queries for flying to UAE within three hours of the ban announcement. “There are hardly any tickets available (on commercial flights before the deadline),” she said.
AI Express said people booked with it “to fly during this period will be able to reschedule their tickets once flight operations on these sectors resume.” Cargo flights will continue to operate in both directions without any impact, says Etihad.
UAE — the biggest international destination for Indians — is the second country after UK to bar the entry of Indians due to the highly infectious new Covid strain here that has led to an explosive rise in number of cases.
Before the 10-day ban, Dubai had tightened entry norms for Indians. Travellers going from India to Dubai from Thursday (April 22) require a negative Covid report from a test done within 48 hours — reduced from 72 hours currently — of their departure to the UAE.
From 8.30 am (IST) on Friday, Indian citizens will not be allowed to enter United Kingdom as UK has added India to its red list of countries — signifying high Covid risk.