NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday night announced that 58 flights will be deployed by Indian carriers on Wednesday to bring back stranded passengers from West Asia. It also specified that 1,609 flights have been cancelled by Indian as well as foreign carriers due to the ongoing crisis in the region.
In an official statement, the Ministry said that a total of 24 flights were operated by Indian carriers on Monday. Additionally, foreign carriers Emirates and Etihad have operated nine flights from the Gulf region in the last 24 hours, it said.
“Indian carriers are further planning 58 flights on 4th March, including 30 by IndiGo and 23 by Air India and Air India Express,” the Ministry said. “We are in continuous touch with airlines and closely monitoring airfares to ensure that there is no undue surge in ticket prices during this period,” it said.
Till date, 1,221 flights by Indian carriers and 388 flights by foreign carriers have been cancelled due to the ongoing situation, it explained.
Indian carriers have undertaken calibrated adjustments to their schedules, with long-haul and ultra long-haul operations being progressively resumed through alternative routings that avoid restricted airspace, the Ministry added.
Air India to deploy aircraft with highest seating capacity
Air India on Tuesday night announced that it was deploying its widebody aircraft with higher seating capacity from Indian airports to Jeddah and Dubai to bring back passengers stranded due to the West Asia situation.
“A Boeing 777 aircraft with a capacity of close to 350 seats departed from Jeddah on Tuesday evening. A Boeing 787-9 aircraft with around 300 seats will depart from Delhi to Dubai on Tuesday night and another Boeing 787-8 aircraft with over 250 seats will depart from Mumbai to Dubai in the early hours of March 4, “ the airline said in a statement. “All the flights are expected to operate at full capacity on their return sectors on 4 March, arriving at Mumbai and Delhi, respectively,” it added.
IndiGo announced that it would be reinstating select flights from Wednesday. In a statement, it said it would operate 13 return flights from Muscat, Jeddah, Medinah and Athens covering 26 sectors on March 4. “Repatriation flights to stations in the UAE on March 4 are being worked out and will depend on the local situation and necessary approvals.” IndiGo said it operated four flights to Jeddah and one to Muscat on Tuesday to bring back passengers.
Urmia Medical students in a precarious situation: AIMSA
It is going to be a long and fearful night for 25 Indian students of the Urmia University of Medical Sciences as they remain in their dormitories with bombings and air strikes happening around them. The All India Medical Students Association (AIMSA) as well as the students, have appealed to the Indian government to take urgent steps for their safety.
A final year MBBS student at the university, Muskan, shot a video of a bombing which took place very near the place where they were residing presently. Just after she shared it, the internet vanished again in Iran.
Another student from Urmia University released a video stating, "An attack has happened. The situation has escalated quite rapidly as we were taking classes and providing services in hospitals."
“The situation has left them frightened, anxious, and deeply distressed. Students stated that one of the strikes occurred approximately 300 meters from their boys’ dormitory, with the impact reportedly shaking the entire building, said AIMSA, which is in regular touch with the students, said in a media statement.
The sudden escalation has intensified concerns among Indian students and their families, particularly those from Kashmir, who are closely monitoring developments. Many students have expressed uncertainty about their safety and are urgently appealing to authorities for evacuation to a safer location.
A total of 200 students were evacuated from Tehran to a safer place in Qom city on Tuesday morning. This leaves between 500 and 600 students still spread across various universities in Iran. Over 2,200 students, most of them pursuing medicine, returned to India last month.