UAE to lift transit ban on passengers from India on August 5 – Times of India
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MUMBAI: Passengers from India will be permitted to transit through UAE from August 5, announced UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) on Tuesday.
The relaxation in travel restrictions comes over three months after UAE shut its doors to passengers from India on April 25, when the country battled the Covid second wave. Up till then India-UAE country pair was the second busiest international route in the world from January to April.
Following the ban, only UAE residents, those holding UAE Golden visa and members of diplomatic mission were allowed to board flights from India to UAE.
The UAE authority has also permitted passengers from India who been vaccinated in UAE and who hold a valid UAE residency permit to travel to UAE from August 5.
Unvaccinated passengers working with the UAE government, students, teachers, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, those with emergencies etc too have can enter UAE provided they have a residency permit.
In a tweet posted in Arabic late on Tuesday evening, NCEMA said that ‘travel will resume for transit passengers from all countries from which transit passengers were previously stopped.’
The transit passengers will need a negative PCR report taken 72 hours prior to departure and will have to obtain a ‘final destination approval’, essentially show that their journey will terminate in another country. UAE airports will allocate separate lounges for these transit passengers, the order said.
Hours earlier, the UAE authority tweeted that passengers from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, who hold a valid UAE residency permit can fly to UAE from August 5. Passengers entering UAE will have to apply online for entry permit and carry a negative RT-PCR test taken 48 hours prior to departure.
But the condition that they should have rereceived their vaccination doses in UAE led to confusion among passengers. Many sought clarification from NCEMA on twitter on whether UAE would accept vaccination certificates issued by governments of India, Pakistan etc.
An official from an Indian carrier said that they had contacted the Indian Embassy in UAE for clarifications to this aspect and others in the NCEMA order.
Dubai-based Emirates airline posted a link to the NCEMA tweet late on Thursday night on their website alerting passengers from these six countries to the change in travel restrictions. At the time of going to the press, travel agents were yet to receive a communication from the airline.
“There is quite a bit of confusion over the eligibility criteria for passengers as posted in the NCEMA tweets. We’re awaiting a note from Emirates,” said a travel industry insider.
Before the April 25 travel ban by UAE, India-UAE was among the most robust international routes in the world. According to UK aviation data firm, OAG, in the month of April, airline total of 2.6 lakh seats to be flown by airlines between these two Indian cities and Dubai.
The relaxation in travel restrictions comes over three months after UAE shut its doors to passengers from India on April 25, when the country battled the Covid second wave. Up till then India-UAE country pair was the second busiest international route in the world from January to April.
Following the ban, only UAE residents, those holding UAE Golden visa and members of diplomatic mission were allowed to board flights from India to UAE.
The UAE authority has also permitted passengers from India who been vaccinated in UAE and who hold a valid UAE residency permit to travel to UAE from August 5.
Unvaccinated passengers working with the UAE government, students, teachers, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, those with emergencies etc too have can enter UAE provided they have a residency permit.
In a tweet posted in Arabic late on Tuesday evening, NCEMA said that ‘travel will resume for transit passengers from all countries from which transit passengers were previously stopped.’
The transit passengers will need a negative PCR report taken 72 hours prior to departure and will have to obtain a ‘final destination approval’, essentially show that their journey will terminate in another country. UAE airports will allocate separate lounges for these transit passengers, the order said.
Hours earlier, the UAE authority tweeted that passengers from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, who hold a valid UAE residency permit can fly to UAE from August 5. Passengers entering UAE will have to apply online for entry permit and carry a negative RT-PCR test taken 48 hours prior to departure.
But the condition that they should have rereceived their vaccination doses in UAE led to confusion among passengers. Many sought clarification from NCEMA on twitter on whether UAE would accept vaccination certificates issued by governments of India, Pakistan etc.
An official from an Indian carrier said that they had contacted the Indian Embassy in UAE for clarifications to this aspect and others in the NCEMA order.
Dubai-based Emirates airline posted a link to the NCEMA tweet late on Thursday night on their website alerting passengers from these six countries to the change in travel restrictions. At the time of going to the press, travel agents were yet to receive a communication from the airline.
“There is quite a bit of confusion over the eligibility criteria for passengers as posted in the NCEMA tweets. We’re awaiting a note from Emirates,” said a travel industry insider.
Before the April 25 travel ban by UAE, India-UAE was among the most robust international routes in the world. According to UK aviation data firm, OAG, in the month of April, airline total of 2.6 lakh seats to be flown by airlines between these two Indian cities and Dubai.
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