Hundreds of Non-Resident Keralites (NoRKs) in Saudi Arabia have been hit with the the country’s civil aviation regulator General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) suspending flights to and from India citing the spurt in COVID-19 cases.
With this, the NoRKs held up in the Kingdom and those stranded in Kerala and other States will be able to fly back only after the GACA withdraws the suspension.
No time frame
According to the GACA, any person who has been in India, Brazil, and Argentina in the last 14 days prior to arrival in Saudi Arabia will not be allowed in, except for persons with government invitations to travel to these countries. However, no time frame has been set for the suspension of flights from these three countries that came into effect from the midnight of September 22.
The chartered flight from Jeddah to the Cochin international airport that was to land at 10 p.m. on Wednesday was cancelled following the GACA order. Sources in Cochin International Airport Ltd. (CIAL) said hundreds who had booked seats on the return flight at 11 p.m. to Jeddah had got stranded and would have to wait till flights are allowed into the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is home to the second-largest Indian expatriate community after the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Around two lakh Indians stranded in Dammam, Jeddah, and Riyadh had sought repatriation in June in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the months, Air India, SpiceJet, and IndiGo had operated chartered flights and repatriation flights from Saudi Arabia.
The GACA action comes within days after the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority suspended the flights of Air India Express (AIE), the budget airline of Air India, from September 18 to October 2, for flying passengers with COVID-positive certificates.
Talks at the highest level led to the withdrawal of the suspension of the AIE flights from September 19 and only such an intervention will help overcome the crisis, it has been pointed out.
