No commercial ops, only chartered flights from UAE till Jul 26: Ministry
MUMBAI: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) on Wednesday summoned four United Arab Emirates (UAE) airlines – Air Arabia, Flydubai, Emirates and Etihad – and directed them to stop operations of their commercial flights and asked to operate only permitted chartered flights from the country to India till July 26.
A ministry official said, “The airlines, along with UAE’S ambassador to India, were summoned by the aviation secretary on Wednesday and asked to stop their unauthorised flights movements with immediate effect.”
On July 9, the Centre allowed airlines to operate only charter flights from UAE. However, ministry officials said UAE carriers unilaterally started commercial operations to India since July 12.
The development comes after
Air Arabia operated its commercial flights to Mumbai over the last weekend without seeking requisite permissions from the Maharashtra government, following which the state issued a notice to the airline to respond. It is mandatory for airlines to receive traffic clearance from the destination states and the Indian embassy. MOCA said this rule was brought to ensure that flights landing in the country are legitimate charter flights commissioned by either a community or a corporate house.
On Thursday, Valsa Nair, principal secretary of state aviation department, said, “Air Arabia has apologised, and said it will ensure that the violation won’t be committed again.”