3 historic charter flights take off
First Middle Eastern airline to fly to Bagdogra airport among milestones
Three historic charter flights took off with stranded Indians from the UAE yesterday. These repatriation flights included the first ever direct flight to Guwahati in Assam, the first Middle Eastern airline to fly to Bagdogra airport in West Bengal and the first individual-sponsored charter flight from the UAE that was flown to Kochi in Kerala.
The first two flights fulfilled the dream of more than 400 stranded Indians from the country’s northeast region to fly home.
The Bagdogra flight from Sharjah flew home 215 passengers while the Guwahati flight from Dubai repatriated 189 passengers. An additional 185 passengers in distress flew home for free on the Kochi-Dubai flight.
BUSINESSMEN PAY FOR 22 PASSENGERS
The special FlyDubai repatriation flight to Guwahati was organised by Satguru Travel and Tourism, who worked with Dubai-based volunteers. It was the first ever direct flight to the north east Indian airport from the UAE, the organisers said.
“We did Guwahati because no one was taking care of Indians from the north east. We started looking into it after we received many requests and since we had the resources, we decided to help,” said Gaurav Keswani, a senior corporate sales executive at Satguru Travel and Toursim.
“This is also the first ever FlyDubai flight to that part of India,” he said. The company has so far facilitated nine repatriation flights out of the UAE. Many of the passengers, including three infants, were stranded after India shut its international borders in March following the pandemic. While some had lost their jobs in the UAE, others were visitors who could not return home after their visas expired.
Some Dubai-based businessmen also stepped in to help pay for 22 passengers’ tickets.
Dhananjay Datar, chairman and managing director of Al Adil Group, sponsored 10 passengers. Mahesh Jaishankar, a long time Dubai resident along with his friends Rajesh Popley and Kushal Shah, donated money for 12 passengers. Tickets cost Dh1,500 (Rs30,500) per head.
Friday’s flight was a long time in the making, said volunteers.
“We started getting desperate calls for help in March when the lockdowns began and quickly rallied community leaders to help those stranded. It’s been a long struggle to finally get this first flight to take off,” said volunteer Ngayaomi Ruivah.