Partial reopening of airspace brings respite to stranded passengers

The partial reopening of the UAE Flight Information Region, the designated airspace managed by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), along with the operational Omani airspace and the Jeddah Flight Information Region, which covers the western airspace of Saudi Arabia, has provided respite to stranded passengers in West Asia, with airlines operating special services with military approval. Kerala received over a dozen flights from different locations in West Asia, mainly carrying stranded passengers. SpiceJet also announced special flights to key cities in India from Fujairah, including to Kochi on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Hindu, a senior Air India source confirmed that the airline has received permission to operate special flights on a case-by-case basis with military approval. The airline operated the first Indian carrier flight from Dubai to New Delhi amid the ongoing crisis, bringing back 149 stranded passengers. It has also received approval to operate flights from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. These are not scheduled commercial services, but special flights operated with prior military approval from the respective countries.

Full-fledged operations

However, Air India Express has announced that it resumed full-fledged flight operations to and from Muscat on Tuesday. An Air Arabia flight (3L132D) from Thiruvananthapuram to Abu Dhabi also departed at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an Emirates flight (EK 569) from Bengaluru to Dubai, which departed at 4.30 a.m. on Tuesday with 56 passengers on board, returned due to airspace restrictions. Flights to and from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia remain suspended for most parts of the day owing to airspace closures.

According to airline sources, the Muscat Flight Information Region remains largely unaffected by the regional turbulence, and flights from Kerala and other parts of India can directly enter Muscat airspace after crossing the Arabian Sea. Similarly, flights to Saudi Arabia are operating by avoiding UAE airspace and directly entering the Jeddah airspace after a slight deviation via Goa from Mangaluru. Calicut International Airporthandled eight flights to Muscat, Riyadh, and Kuala Lumpur until Tuesday noon and has scheduled two more flights. An Oman Air flight from Muscat to Thiruvananthapuram also operated as scheduled.