Amid the suspension by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Air India Express said on Friday that all Air India Express flights to or from Dubai will operate on the original schedule starting on September 19.
Dubai’s aviation regulator canceled Air India Express flights until October 2, citing that the flight had brought passengers with COVID-positive certificates twice in the past two weeks.
“A passenger, who had a positive COVID certificate dated September 2, traveled on the Air India Express flight Jaipur-Dubai on September 4. A similar incident had occurred with a passenger on one of the airline’s other flights. in Dubai before, “said one. of government officials.
Every passenger traveling from India is required to carry a coronavirus negative certificate to fly to Dubai, per UAE government rule. Passengers must undergo an RT-PCR test four days prior to travel.
“The advisory was issued due to the mistaken acceptance of a COVID-positive passenger by the airline’s ground handling agents in Delhi and Jaipur on Air India Express flights to Dubai in August and September 4, respectively.” noted the airline.
After the suspension order, Air India Express said on Friday that it had advised employees to implement a three-level verification mechanism to avoid failures.
The airline also mentioned: “Based on the airline’s communication, the concerned ground handling agencies have taken appropriate punitive measures against their employees who have been held responsible for the lapse in Delhi and Jaipur,” it added.
“As a general precaution, the airline has advised handling agents to implement a three-level verification mechanism to avoid any such lapse in the future,” Air India Express said via tweet.
It further stated, “According to the information collected, the passengers who were sitting in close proximity to the COVID-positive passenger on each flight had undergone COVID testing / quarantined as determined by the Dubai health authority.”
Last month, Air India passenger flights were banned from landing in Hong Kong between August 18 and 31 after 14 passengers on its Delhi-Hong Kong flight on August 14 tested positive for COVID-19 after the arrival.
International flights have been stopped in India since March 23 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. .
However, the central government allowed special international passenger flights to operate under the Vande Bharat mission since May. In July, India signed an “air bubble” agreement with some countries to ensure connectivity until regular flights resume.
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