Coronavirus impact: Air India Express cancels flights from UAE, offers options

Abu Dhabi - The low-cost airline is allowing passengers with valid tickets of cancelled flights to travel to Indian destinations.

Air India Express announced cancellation of services from Abu Dhabi to Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram. However, passengers can fly to these cancelled destinations on Air India Express flights from Dubai and Sharjah which are operating on Saturday, March 21.
The low-cost airline is allowing passengers with valid tickets of cancelled flights to travel to Indian destinations from any of the UAE airports as per availability of seats. The move comes ahead of India's ban on all international flights for a week starting from March 22.
"From Abu Dhabi we have only one service to New Delhi (IX 116) today and rest all cancelled. So, passengers booked for Abu Dhabi-Thiruvananthapuram can now opt to travel on flights from Dubai or Sharjah. Similarly, passengers can travel in Dubai-Mangalore route. There are no restrictions. Seats will be made available on first-come-first-serve basis," Abu Dhabi office of Air India Express said.
On Saturday, Air India Express existing operations from Dubai are to Amritsar, New Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirappalli. Also, passengers bound for Mumbai are asked to take Mangalore flight.
From Sharjah, the services offered are to Kannur, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli and Varanasi.
"A person booked on any cancelled flights may voluntarily choose to fly to any other sector in India from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Wherever seats are available, we will provide it to passengers. These are difficult times and passengers need to make adjustments."
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com