Air India Express flights to Dubai have been temporarily suspended from Friday for 15 days for having flown Covid-positive passengers from Delhi and Jaipur. AI Express is a subsidiary of Air India and mainly flies from Kerala to West Asia.
The airline has introduced additional flights to Sharjah to accommodate the affected passengers (who were booked to fly from Friday to Dubai) and also given them the option to rebook to fly on a future date.
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The temporary flight suspension comes as the airline carried a Covid-positive passenger from Delhi on August 28 and another one from Jaipur on September 4.
“Passengers who were seated in close proximity to the Covid-positive passenger on each flight had undergone Covid test/quarantined as determined by the Dubai health authority,” the airline said in a statement.
Instructions to handling agencies
The Airline has reiterated the instructions to the handling agencies in India to strictly adhere to the regulation/Standard Operating Procedure in relation to acceptance of passengers on the Airline’s flights. It has advised the handling agents to implement a three-tier checking mechanism to avoid any such lapse in the future.
“Based on the Airline’s communication to them, the concerned ground handling agencies have taken appropriate punitive action against their employees who have been held accountable for the lapse at Delhi and Jaipur,” the airline’s statement adds.
