The Ministry of Civil Aviation said that UAE airlines has violated the air bubble agreement put in place between India and the United Arab Emirates.
The Ministry has to say that some UAE airlines have carried unauthorised transit passengers from India.
In a letter to the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the UAE earlier this month, the ministry of civil aviation wrote: “We are in receipt of reports of violation of the provisions of air bubble arrangement by UAE carriers by carrying unauthorized transit passengers”.
Hindustan Times has a copy of the letter, which reads: “We would further request you inform the UAE carriers to ensure that the revised provisions of the air bubble arrangement are followed in true spirit”.
According the HT’s report, Arun Kumar, director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), confirmed this. “We have acted upon such inputs and the airlines concerned have been advised and reprimanded.”
An another official said the motive for violating the arrangements to fly transit passengers beyond the UAE to farther destinations may be to earn a profit, as per the news report.
“No airline can accept transit passengers. For example, if an airline is operating from India to the UAE, it cannot accept on-board a passenger not destined to the UAE (passengers with a visa for any country other than the UAE). However, if a passenger goes to the UAE and then books another flight to travel further, the airline cannot be held responsible,” the officer said.
According to the aviation expert Mark D Martin, such a violation was bound to happen. “Air bubble arrangement has many loopholes. Airlines will always want to focus on revenue. Airlines will offer what the consumer wants and even if the transit means two days in a hotel in Dubai and then an onward journey, it is still circumventing the law,” he said.
An air bubble agreement is a temporary arrangement between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Source -Hindustan Times)
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