00:00Meanwhile, amidst rising tensions in West Asia, flight operations have been hit worldwide.
00:05Air India has extended the suspension of flights to and from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar until 11.59pm
00:13today.
00:14Select European flights scheduled for today have also been cancelled.
00:18Indigo has extended its suspension and asked passengers to check its website for the latest updates.
00:23Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said its passenger assistance control room is actively addressing travel grievances.
00:31So far, 411 complaints have been resolved.
00:35Helpline numbers issued by Indian embassies are also being shared with passengers.
00:39Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi chaired a high security review meet.
00:43The committee was briefed on the February 28th airstrike in Iran and attacks on Gulf nations' concerns
00:50over the safety of Indians, including travellers and students, were discussed.
00:54The government also reviewed the potential economic implications
00:57and assured that all necessary assistance will be extended to affected Indian nationals.
01:05So, by the Delhi airport, there are some disruptions.
01:08Many passengers were informed not to come here, but for this big group from France,
01:12they were set to go back to their country, but now they're flying Air India
01:16and they don't know when they will be getting a ticket back to their home country of France
01:21and they're here with us.
01:23Left in the lurch, what has Air India told you?
01:26What?
01:27What has Air India told you?
01:30Nothing.
01:31Just an information that our plane, our flight is cancelled and that's all.
01:38So, when do you think you'll be able to go back?
01:40Why are you here?
01:41We don't know when.
01:43We hope today, we hope tomorrow.
01:44Oh, we don't know when.
01:45We'd like to know when we can come back to France.
01:48Okay.
01:49So, because of these disruptions, they are left in the lurch.
01:52They don't know when Air India is going to put them back on a plane.
01:55Please, you can talk to us a little about the kind of inconvenience this has caused you?
01:59Yes.
02:00And it was a few person is not good in the group.
02:07They must go to France.
02:09Because they want to work?
02:11Someone are here.
02:13Someone want to go back with their family.
02:15And we don't know where and when we can go.
02:17So, you are in Delhi and has the airline said they're taking care of your expenses, your stay?
02:22Yes, yes.
02:23We have an agency with us, okay, for three days.
02:28But afterwards, we don't know.
02:31We have to pay hotel, lunch, restaurant.
02:36And it's expensive.
02:38Absolutely.
02:38No information at the moment.
02:41We can't go in the airport.
02:44It's not possible.
02:45So, it's very strange for us.
02:48Understood.
02:48All right.
02:49Thank you for speaking with us.
02:50So, you heard there from these passengers who were supposed to fly Air India, go back home.
02:55So, let's hope the dust settles.
02:57But as of now, you can see these are tourists, foreign tourists from France.
03:01It's a big group of 16 people.
03:03They've had a good time in India, but now they want to go back home.
03:05But what they're doing is that they're going back to their hotels.
03:09It's not something that they wanted.
03:11With video journalist Pradeep Gupta, Sriha Muldani in Delhi for India Today Television.
03:17Barring a few passengers, you don't really see mayhem at the Delhi airport and particularly at the T3 terminal,
03:23which is the international airport, because airlines have obviously informed passengers about the cancellations.
03:28And look at the cancellations that we are seeing in the Middle East sector.
03:31The Gulf region particularly is what has been worst hit.
03:36Dubai, Daman, as you can see, also Kuwait.
03:39You're seeing cancellations in many of these routes.
03:42You can see Doha flight that has been cancelled again.
03:45The Doha flight, the Dubai flight, Emirates has been cancelled.
03:48You're seeing other cancellations also for Indigo Airlines in Dubai, as is evident right here.
03:54You see Riyadh, which is an Indigo flight that has been cancelled.
03:58And also the Sharjah flight here, which has been cancelled.
04:02So this is the route which is particularly affected.
04:05The Sharjah, the Riyadh.
04:07And apart from that, the Middle Eastern areas, the cities and the countries where flying is restricted at this point
04:14in time.
04:14These are the cancellations.
04:16But because, like I just said, we've seen so many people being informed about these cancellations.
04:22They've not ended up coming to the airport.
04:25But we do see some passengers who are hoping, against hope, that they'll hop onto perhaps some other flight
04:31and maybe, you know, get onto their destination via some other route.
04:35That also is the reality at this point in time.
04:39What the passengers here are clearly telling us is that there is uncertainty and there is lack of information,
04:46which is really keeping them or rather left them in lurch.
04:50And that is the problematic aspect of their journey at this point in time.
04:55So this group here also, like I said earlier, are in fact waiting to fly out.
05:02But the route they were taking is not where the flights are not in fact taking the route which they
05:07were taking.
05:08And that's the reason why many such groups are stranded, some of them here at the airport.
05:14But many of the passengers have actually decided not to come here at this point in time,
05:19knowing that the uncertainty would continue.
05:22With video journalist Pradeep Gupta, Sreena Mordani in Delhi for India Today Television.
05:27The war escalations between U.S. Israel and Iran is impacting the airspace restrictions all across the world.
05:34And what does that mean for the flyers who were supposed to fly out of India and travel to different
05:40destinations?
05:41That's the boat at the IGI airport.
05:43Air India Express Sarjaha flight cancelled.
05:48Etihad Sabudhabi flight cancelled.
05:51India Indigo Singapore flight, that's in the last information, Air India Dubai cancelled.
05:57And then the list, Muskar, Doha, all of these flights are cancelled.
06:01The information that we bring to you, Air India has suspended its operations for UAE, Qatar, Israel, Iran and several
06:10of other destinations today.
06:13And this suspension of operations, flight operations could further increase because of the airspace restrictions and the war escalations that's
06:22happening.
06:23And the impact can be seen on Delhi's IGI airport as well.
06:27This family was supposed to fly to Cyprus.
06:30They are sitting here waiting for the past four to five hours.
06:33And there is no information from their airline operator.
06:38That is the Egypt Air.
06:40That's what they are claiming.
06:41And the board also showed that, you know, their flight is further delayed.
06:47The another family which was supposed to travel to Canada, they are waiting out here.
06:50They travel long distance to reach the Delhi's IGI airport with their luggage ready.
06:55All set as you do for any international travel.
06:59They have taken all care.
07:00But because of the unavoidable reasons, the craft is delayed.
07:04But the more important point is whether the communication is happening from the airline operators to their passengers or not.
07:11Are you traveling to Canada?
07:12I'm traveling to UK.
07:13UK.
07:14Your flight is delayed?
07:16Delayed.
07:16It's around eight hours.
07:17Eight hours.
07:18And did you get an information about this?
07:20No, it wasn't any sort of earlier information.
07:23We got to know just on the instant point when we are here.
07:26We've been traveling 12 hours around from my home to here.
07:33I was thinking it's...
07:34Where are you coming from?
07:35It's from Punjab, nearby Sultanpur Lodi.
07:38Okay.
07:39It takes around 12 hours to come here.
07:42Which airline operator is this?
07:44It's Egypt Airlines.
07:45Egypt Airlines.
07:46So you received information only when you reached the airport?
07:49Yeah, exactly.
07:50And have you received any kind of food packet, assistance from the aircraft?
07:53No, any sort of anything.
07:55Nothing.
07:55Nothing.
07:55Nothing.
07:56Nothing.
07:56Let's go.
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