Dubai Suspends Air India Express Services For Carrying COVID-19 Positive Passengers

The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority has suspended Air India Express operations to the Dubai airport till 2 October for allegedly carrying passengers testing positive for COVID-19 twice in the last couple of weeks. The suspension has been made effective from 18 September.

The UAE government rules require passengers travelling from India to carry original COVID-negative certificate from RT-PCR test done 96 hours prior to the journey.

"A passenger, who had a COVID-positive certificate dated 2 September, travelled on Air India Express' Jaipur-Dubai flight on 4 September. A similar incident had happened with a passenger on one of the airline's other Dubai flights previously," said a government official to PTI.

The two incidents of passengers with COVID-19 positive certificates flying to Dubai from India boarded Air India Express flights.

When asked about the suspension, Air India Express told PTI news agency that is going to focus on reducing the hardship of the passengers and plans to operate its four Dubai flights, scheduled to operate from India on Friday, to Sharjah instead.