Cancellation of flights from UK leaves transit passengers stranded

Cancellation of flights from UK leaves transit passengers stranded

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 22.12.2020

The sudden cancellation of flights to and from the UK, Saudi Arabia and Oman has left several people, including transit passengers, stranded abroad. The Indian government has suspended flights to London while Saudi and Oman have suspended all international flights.

All those who arrive from London will have to undergo RT-PCR test and will have to remain in institutional quarantine till test results arrive in Chennai. The state government has also decided to test all those who have arrived from the UK in the last15days.

So far, people arriving at Chennai with negative certificates were getting exempted from tests and quarantine.

Though transit passengers have time till Tuesday to return from London to Chennai and other cities, there is no clarity on what will happen if they do not get seats in the flights that reach here till tomorrow midnight.

Travel and tour operators have been flooded with calls from people who are already in the UK, London and the Middle East for a short visit or for business travel.

"Many people from Chennai who have flown to Dubai to take transit flights to Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia are now stuck in the UAE for quarantine. Since there were no direct flights from Chennai, many flew to Dubai, spent a week in quarantine and then continued their journey. These people will now have to stay there and then return to India if everything is clear or will have to spend money to travel again. Many have been spending money to stay in quarantine in Dubai," said Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travels.

He also said that the suspension of flights would impact people who were planning their trips from the US to India via London. "Dubai is still open and flights are arriving from the UK. But, it will not be of help for the stranded Indians because the government has said that those from the UK to India should not be boarded," he added.

Nishant Pitti from EaseMyTrip said that many people are stranded in London. "The cancellation will have an impact on travel. But it will not affect leisure travel because it was supposed to resume in summer only."

UNDER THE LENS: All those who arrive from London will have to undergo RT-PCR test and remain in institutional quarantine in Chennai till results arrive