Manama: The top civil aviation body of India has barred UAE-based private jets bringing stranded expats to the UAE, leading to the stopping of all private jet operations between India and the UAE.
According to reports, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India has halted issuing new landing permits and cancelled the existing approvals for private jets from the UAE.
The latest move comes days after DGCA stopped the UAE airlines from chartering repatriation flights to India.
The landing permit issued to UAE-based private jets scheduled to fly back UAE expats from India on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were revoked until further orders, according to reports. According to reports, the DGCA warned aviation companies that any UAE private jet that departs with a cancelled permit to India would be confiscated.
Private jets were the last resort among stranded expats as scheduled and repatriation flights not operating from India to the UAE.
In the aftermath of the UAE's approval for expatriates to return, several companies have asked employees who were on vacation to return to work. Many expats got emails from their companies saying they had to report on a specific date or else they would be terminated. As India has not resumed international flight operations yet, they were constrained to depend on private jets despite the high ticket rate. They were shelling out up to Dh15,000 per ticket in a private jet. Hundreds of UAE residents are struggling to catch a seat on private jets.
It is not just the wealthy business families who have flown back to the UAE after being stuck in India for more than three months, operators said. Many people who have flown on business jets included desperate people who were afraid of losing their jobs.
Several private jets have operated in the last few days. The DGCA’s decision was a huge blow and brought disappointment for desperate expats who are trying every means possible to return to the UAE. There are thousands of expats waiting to be returned to the UAE. The DGCA move may adversely affect the jobs of many Indians. Most private jets have a seating capacity of 12 people.
All private jets were operating with the appropriate permissions and clearances for the specific mission, route and destination, operators said.
In a statement carried in the UAE daily Gulf News, DC Aviation Al-Futtaim, the only integrated VIP handling and hangar facility in DWC said that due to the DGCA suspension of flights into India, their Challenger 604 aircraft which was scheduled to land in Dubai today has been affected. The flight was supposed to bring 11 people from Mumbai to Dubai on Wednesday, it was learnt.
According to reports, a few private jets that were chartered from different Indian cities to Dubai had been cancelled as a result of this.
India has barred the UAE airlines to repatriate stranded Indians since July 3, shattering the hopes of hundreds who intended to fly back home.
India has canceled international flight operations on March 22 in order to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. On July 3, India's DGCA announced that scheduled international flights will remain suspended till month-end and only those on a case-to-case basis will be allowed to operate.
