Air India to fly Odias stranded in Dubai to Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: A special Air India flight carrying stranded Odias in Dubai will land at Biju Patnaik International Airport on Thursday. The special flight will operate from Delhi as the hub. The civil aviation ministry has accorded permission for the purpose and the air traffic control (ATC) here at the airport has been intimated about the non-scheduled operation.
Airport sources said the flight will takeoff from New Delhi at 6.20 am and reach Dubai at 10 am.It will leave the gulf country straight for Bhubaneswar at 11am and reach here at 3.45 pm. It will then leave for New Delhi after 45 minutes. “We have received the schedule regarding arrival of an Air India flight from Dubai, but we have not been intimated about passenger details. May be a few hours before arrival on Thursday, we are communicated about the passenger details. The prior information will help us making the ATC ready to guide the plane,” said airport director V V Rao.
Government sources said around 2400 Odias are stranded in Dubai and they have registered with the government portal to return their homeland in view of spread of Coronavirus. The Odisha government was in touch with the Centre to bring back stranded Odias from different countries. “Standard SOP will be followed in case of people coming from Dubai also. We have paid as well as government quarantine facility. Those, who can ensure home isolation, he or she can be allowed home quarantine also,” said a state government officer.
The airport has shut operations since national lockdown on March 24. Barring the unscheduled flights and helicopters, which are operating from here as part of relief work, cargo transporation and emergency service like carrying officials of the state government to different districts, no other flights are operating from here.
The city airport has meanwhile started preparations to resume operations by planning safety and social distancing strategies for passengers and the airport security and other staff.
Notably, after the Centre decided to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had requested foreign minster S Jaishankar to bring Odias from abroad back to Bhubaneswar directly on May 4. On May 3, Pradhan had interacted with the Odia community members staying in the Gulf countries and had told them to take up their request for repatriation directly to Bhubaneswar.