Mumbai: The government has asked Air India and Jet Airways to operate additional temporary flights to Doha to meet the massive demand ahead of Eid, due to a ban on Qatar carriers by nations in West Asia.
India has been closely following the situation in the region in the wake of the decision by Saudi Arabia and some Arab countries to break diplomatic relations with Qatar and closing all connectivity links with that country for its alleged support to terrorism.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain banned the use of their airspace for flights to and from Doha earlier this month, and later revised the embargo saying it would apply only for Qatar operators. The restrictions on the use of airspace were imposed after nine countries — Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Mauritius, Mauritania, Yemen, Libya’s eastern-based government and The Maldives — severed diplomatic ties with Qatar.
While Jet Airways will operate a 168-seater aircraft on June 22 and June 23 between Mumbai and Doha, Air India subsidiary Air India Express will be flying its 186-seater Boeing 737 on the Thiruvananthapuram-Doha and Kochi-Doha routes from June 25 to July 8, a senior Ministry of Civil Aviation official said.
The move comes after Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj discussed the matter with Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju earlier this week. “All steps necessary for timely movement of our citizens from Doha will be ensured. Sushma Swaraj and I are in touch on this issue,” Mr. Raju tweeted earlier on Wednesday.
As per official data, a little over 28 lakh passengers flew to and from Indian cities and Doha in 2016. Air India Express has 14 flights from Kozhikode, Mangalore and Mumbai. Jet Airways operates flights from Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai and Thiruvananthpuram. Qatar Airways flies to 14 Indian cities and carries a substantial number of transit passengers.
Kapil Kaul, CEO and director of aviation think-tank CAPA South Asia, said unless the issue is resolved quickly, West Asian carriers would be severely and strategically hurt, and the aviation in the region significantly damaged in the near term.
“We expect more people to take the next available flight to come back home and not many people would like to go there at this point of time considering the volatile situation,” an aviation analyst said. There are about 6.5 lakh Indians or people of Indian origin staying and working in Qatar, who are now expected to relocate.
