NEW DELHI: Hong Kong has suspended Air India (AI) flights for the fifth time, now from Friday to December 3. The Chinese Special Administrative Region (SAR) suspends the flights of any airline whose five or more passengers test positive on arrival for two weeks.
The latest restriction on AI occurs for the same reason. While confirming that AI has been “banned for 14 days until December 3,” a senior official wondered why it had happened, as “it had no flights scheduled during this period (the latest restriction).”
Hong Kong had previously banned AI flights from Delhi three times, once in August, September and October. On one occasion, Vistara was also banned from AI. Flights from Mumbai were banned in late October for two weeks.
Air India maintains that it follows all the rules of the destination countries. Speaking when the fourth ban occurred, a senior official said: “… as a responsible airline, AI strictly adheres to (all) the rules and protocol. Only passengers with negative Covid reports can board from any destination in India. Another mandatory Covid-19 test is carried out for passengers after landing in Hong Kong and the reports of it may differ from the reports of the tests carried out 72 hours before taking the flight. Therefore, Air India is not responsible for any gaps in the subject of passenger test reports. ”
The latest restriction on AI occurs for the same reason. While confirming that AI has been “banned for 14 days until December 3,” a senior official wondered why it had happened, as “it had no flights scheduled during this period (the latest restriction).”
Hong Kong had previously banned AI flights from Delhi three times, once in August, September and October. On one occasion, Vistara was also banned from AI. Flights from Mumbai were banned in late October for two weeks.
Air India maintains that it follows all the rules of the destination countries. Speaking when the fourth ban occurred, a senior official said: “… as a responsible airline, AI strictly adheres to (all) the rules and protocol. Only passengers with negative Covid reports can board from any destination in India. Another mandatory Covid-19 test is carried out for passengers after landing in Hong Kong and the reports of it may differ from the reports of the tests carried out 72 hours before taking the flight. Therefore, Air India is not responsible for any gaps in the subject of passenger test reports. ”
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