Flights from U.S., U.K. delayed

Crew have to undergo COVID-19 tests; services from West Asia not affected

07/05/2020, JAGRITI CHANDRA, SUHASINI HAIDAR ,NEW DELHI

Safe zone: A quarantine centre being readied for NRIs near the Calicut International Airport on Wednesday.PTI-

The wait to return home for thousands of Indians has become slightly longer after the government's plan to mount Air India flights to bring back Indians from around the world was deferred on Wednesday by 24 to 48 hours. Multiple government sources confirmed that the delay was because Air India crew are required to undergo COVID-19 tests.

However, passengers in West Asia will be unaffected as flights to the region will take off on schedule.

“Destination countries require the crew to be COVID negative. These are a significant number of pilots and cabin crew who are required to undergo the test on short notice,” a government official explained the reason for the delay in Air India flights..

By the original plan, flights from six countries were scheduled to land on Thursday, but will now arrive either on Friday or Saturday.

The first flight from the U.S. was scheduled to arrive in Mumbai from San Francisco at 4 a.m. on Thursday. It now stands delayed by 48 hours.

Similarly, a flight scheduled to arrive in Delhi from Washington DC at 1 p.m. on Thursday will now land on Saturday. The first one from London was scheduled to arrive in Mumbai at 1.30 a.m. on Thursday, but this will now bring back Indians two days later.

Seven-day exercise

However, a flight each to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to be operated by Air India Express will arrive on Thursday without delay, as crew members were able to undergo the mandatory medical test. This Air India subsidiary will operate 22 of the total 64 flights planned by the Government of India.

The delay will have a cascading effect on the seven-day plan chalked out by the government. It was scheduled to end on May 13 but has spilled over to May 17.