Passengers told special COVID-19 flights being moved to Sharjah for 'operational reasons'

Air India Express flights to and from Dubai have been suspended for 15 days from September 18 until October 3, Gulf News has learnt.

Multiple sources confirmed to Gulf News that all operations of the low-cost subsidiary of India’s national carrier Air India to Dubai Airports were suspended from midnight.

The airline, which has been operating flights under the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate stranded Indians from the UAE, is also flying passengers eligible to return to the UAE from India under the air bubble agreement between the two countries.

According to sources, the suspension of the services is due to an issue related to COVID-19.

However, Gulf News could not get an official response from the authorities at the time of publishing this report.

Dubai International Airport has started showing “cancelled” status for all Air India Express flights scheduled on Friday.

Meanwhile, passengers have started receiving messages that some of the flights on Friday have been rescheduled to Sharjah International Airport “due to operational reasons.”

Passengers travelling to Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut confirmed to Gulf News that they received the message about the rescheduled service late Thursday.

Source