00:02All right, let's get you the latest in terms of where flight operations stand at this point of time,
00:07keeping in mind that the entire West Asia has been engulfed in the U.S.-Israel versus Iran conflict.
00:13Global flight operations remain under strain.
00:15First flight of Air India with stranded passengers from Dubai has landed in Delhi.
00:21149 passengers, including crew members of Air India, Air India Express, have returned home.
00:26A flight from Muscat also arrived at Delhi's IGI airport today.
00:31Operations at Dubai International Airport, Abu Dhabi International Airport, partially resumed after recent disruptions,
00:38even as the threat of strike looms large.
00:41The impact on Indian aviation has been significant.
00:45Emirates flight from Mumbai has landed in Dubai.
00:48Of four Dubai-bound Emirates inbound flights from Delhi, Chennai and Bangaluru have returned to India after reports of blasts.
00:56Following reports of explosions in Riyadh after a drone attack,
01:00flight bound for Saudi Arabia has returned after they took off globally.
01:04Operations of Qatar Airways remain suspended over closure of airspace in Qatar.
01:09On Monday alone, 357 flights were cancelled, adding to 444 cancellations the previous day and 411 the day before.
01:18Amongst Indian carriers, Air India Express has resumed services to and from Muscat starting today.
01:24Meanwhile, Indigo is now operating 10 special relief flights from Saudi Arabia to India.
01:30These flights are aimed at bringing back stranded passengers subject to necessary approvals and prevailing airspace conditions.
01:40Many Indian tourists are still there, so if the U.A. government has taken the cost of their stay,
01:47then it will be helpful for them, because everything is very costly over there.
01:51The situation is not so bad, people are safe there.
01:54But there are interceptions and all of these are happening, but it's very rare.
01:59It's happening in some areas, sometimes in some areas.
02:04It's happening in India, but I'm really grateful for the people who have supported us and brought us there.
02:14I didn't receive any notification till yet.
02:16So now I have to go back, because I didn't receive any notification or anything.
02:25So we will see from my company, because my company provides this ticket.
02:41Amit Bhardwa joins us right outside the IGI airport for a quick update.
02:46Amit, would you take us through the details that are coming in, in terms of resumption of flight operations,
02:51how limited are they, which sectors are now applying?
02:54Give us all the details.
03:00Pretty positive aspects for today.
03:03Three important updates.
03:04Number one, Air India was the first Indian operator to actually fly two crafts out of Dubai.
03:11Direct flight from Dubai to Delhi.
03:13And the first craft actually carried 143 crew members of Air India and Air India Express today, early in the
03:21day.
03:21And after that, you had AI-916, which became the first Indian operator flight to actually carry these stranded passengers
03:30in Dubai back to their home in Delhi.
03:33So 149 Indian passengers were brought back by that Air India 916-D aircraft.
03:38After that, Oman Air, you know, is a very important development,
03:43because many of these people who were stranded in Delhi were not able to get ticket, hold of tickets on
03:48any of the airlines.
03:51Oman Air had opened a window for them.
03:53And I had met personally a couple of families who traveled, actually took the road, you know,
03:59to travel to the border of UAE and eventually enter Oman to take flight from Muscat.
04:06In fact, Oman Air had arranged Sarja to Muscat bus operations as well for these passengers.
04:12But many of these passengers whom I met, they had taken their personal ride to Muscat and they came to
04:19Delhi.
04:19The flight had landed in the noon today, including one couple that I met, some named Piyush Pallav of Delhi.
04:26They were an Anshika.
04:29Piyush was actually, Piyush and Anshika were actually supposed to go to London, meet in London and then travel to
04:35Scotland.
04:35But mid-air, he got to know that there are missile strikes.
04:40He got stranded in Dubai itself.
04:42His wife couldn't fly to London.
04:44And that's how the entire trip got cancelled.
04:47They were pretty worried.
04:48His mother was still, you know, had tears in eyes when I met her at the airport.
04:53So safe journey back to home.
04:56Two quick important updates.
04:57Spice Jet is expected to operate four special flights from Fujairah, two different destinations in Delhi, in India, including Delhi
05:06and Kochi.
05:07Those flights will be operating late in the night.
05:10Air India Express is also operating their flights from Muscat today.
05:14The information in that regard is awaited.
05:16And Indigo's four flights that were supposed to fly from Jeddah to, you know, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
05:25Information in that regard is also awaited.
05:27Back to you.
05:28Amit, if you can just take us through very quickly.
05:30You know, you've given us and detailed the flight operations and the resumption of limited flights to West Asia and
05:37countries.
05:37A lot of sectors, like you also pointed out earlier briefly, where Europe is concerned, are still affected and remain
05:44affected.
05:44What's the latest update there?
05:54Amit, can you hear me?
05:58Okay, we seem to be having a bit of a problem.
05:59Preeti, if you could repeat that question, please.
06:01Amit, the question that I asked you was, you detailed the flight operations and the resumptions in a limited manner,
06:08which are taking place where West Asia countries and certain Gulf countries are concerned.
06:12Can you also detail, because lots of flight which are, you know, on the sector of Europe, most of them
06:19still stand cancelled.
06:20What is the resumption of flights in that sector?
06:27Well, Preeti, you know, what happened yesterday itself, that many of the operators, including Air India, for instance,
06:33they have chosen for, if you speak about north of India or Europe, what they have done is that they
06:39have taken a longer route.
06:40So, even if you look at the numbers of cancellations for February 28th, these numbers were 411.
06:48For 1st March, it was 444.
06:51For yesterday, it actually was brought down to 357, because the air operators are now taking a longer route in
06:59order to reach for north of India, north of America, or even the European destinations.
07:04But, yes, there are certain flights, for instance, Birmingham, London, many of these flights, Frankfurt, Paris, they are also getting
07:10cancelled.
07:11But now the operators are actually analysing two aspects.
07:15First, the safety.
07:16The second, if they are taking a longer route, whether that is feasible from the, you know, business perspective as
07:22well or not.
07:22But, even then, the operators are indeed taking longer routes in order to ensure that the flight operations are back
07:30to normal, because you also have to make sure that by changing route, you know, there are other modalities which
07:37have to take into account as well.
07:39But we have to, you know, we should believe that these numbers, the cancellations that we had seen yesterday, this
07:45could actually further come down today.
07:47Back to you.
07:48All right.
07:48Well, that's at least the silver lining right now, where aviation and flights, which are inbound and outbound from India,
07:54come into question.
07:55Thank you, Amit, for joining us with that quick update.
07:57And, Amit, also elucidated, there is a certain level of normalcy that is seemingly returning in the Indian aviation sector.
08:05How short-lived that might be, we don't quite know.
08:07But good news as of today.
08:09Flights have not now slowly started to resume from and to West Asia.
08:15Flights with stranded passengers have now returned to India.
08:18Stranded flyers allege that they are paying, though, three to four times extra to return on these flights.
08:24Few workers are now stranded in Mumbai and say they really can't afford these expenses.
08:27Listen in.
08:31India's Indigo will be, is planning to operate 10 flights today, subject to clearance from the authorities.
08:40And these crafts were planned from Jeddah for different Indian cities.
08:46However, only four such Indigo crafts have been given clearance.
08:50They are slated to fly to three Indian cities, including Ahmedabad, Chennai and Mumbai.
08:58However, what is happening right now, if you go through the list, Emirates EK517, this was slated to fly to
09:07Dubai.
09:08That is cancelled.
09:09Qatar Airways, Doha flight cancelled.
09:12Indigo's Doha flight cancelled.
09:14You again have Etihad, Abu Dhabi, that has been cancelled.
09:18Air India's Dubai flight cancelled.
09:20And the setback is also for the passengers who were slated to fly to Riyadh.
09:28Now, what happened is that in context of Emirates, four flights of Emirates were flying from four different destinations from
09:38India,
09:38including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai.
09:40And three of them had to reverse back to their bases, including that from Delhi and Chennai.
09:47Only the Mumbai flight was able to land in Dubai.
09:50In Dubai, it was on ground, the government was trying to make a lot of panic in Dubai.
09:58There were constant messages coming from the government, stay safe, stay indoor, there is nothing to panic, there is no
10:05need to be afraid of it.
10:06All missiles were intercepted, on ground, casualties were very little.
10:12When airspace, there are continuously missiles being shot down, drones are being shot down, so there is panic in the
10:17family.
10:18But as such, the government is doing a great job.
10:20Everyone has got a hotel, everyone is getting proper food, civilization is not hurt at all.
10:25The restaurants, all the entertainment places, gardens, everything is open.
10:30And the government is now trying hard to open flights and push people back in their respective countries.
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