Doha-based expats’ group plans to charter flights to Kerala; registration opens
Flights to four destinations in Kerala expected to run in two weeks
A Doha-based sociocultural organisation of Indian expatriates on Friday opened on online registration web tool for Indians wanting to go home from Qatar amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) said it plans to charter special flights to four destinations in the south Indian state of Kerala — Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur — from Doha. The flights, however, are subject to approvals from relevant authorities in Qatar and India, said KMCC’s State President SAM Bashir.
“The process is halfway through and if everything goes according to plan, the first flight will leave in two weeks,” Bashir said.
A ticket on a 180-seat chartered flight from Doha to South India is estimated to cost below QR2,000.
The president said priority would be given to those with medical conditions, pregnant women, those who have lost jobs, the elderly, people with expired visas and on leave, and their family members.
The KMCC’s planned chartered flight service is not part of a repatriation service launched by the government of India to fly home its citizens stranded abroad, including in the Gulf countries.
In a message sent to India community leaders, Indian Ambassador HE P Kumaran said that Government of India has just opened up the chartered flight option for community associations to fly back.
More than 30,000 Keralites in Qatar have registered with the Embassy of India in Doha to use repatriation service, known as the “Vande Bharat” mission.
Besides KMCC, companies that brought hundreds of skilled workers to Qatar on short-term job contracts are also in the process of starting chartered flight service to send home workers stuck in Qatar.
Kerala Business Forum (KBF), an association of business community in Doha, has approached the Indian embassy and the authority concerned in India for special jets, its president KR Jayaraj has said.