Consulate General of India
Dubai
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June 24, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
The Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General of India, Dubai have worked assiduously to repatriate Indians stranded in UAE due to Covid-19 situation under Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) since May 7, 2020. By June 20, 2020 more than 60,000 people had been repatriated in these flights through Air India and chartered flights of other airlines. For the past three weeks chartered flights have been carrying Indian passengers from UAE to India and more than 200 chartered flights have been facilitated by the Embassy and the Consulate under the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the Government of India.
For flights from June 25, 2020 onwards a new SOP has been put in place by Government of India for chartered flights from the UAE and some other countries. Under the new SOPs the following steps will be required to be followed for chartering a flight from UAE to India for repatriation:
a. Chartering entities should indentify an Air Transport Operator (ATO) on their own.
b. ATOs send the received State (where the destination airport is located) their flight plans, State clearance forms and passenger manifests directly, with a copy to the Embassy/Consulate. While the Embassy/Consulate will vet the passenger manifest, the ATO simultaneously should proceed to get State Clearance for the flight directly in writing.
c. Once the state clearance is in hand, the ATO takes a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the manifest from the Embassy/Consulate.
d. With the state clearance and NOC from the Embassy/Consulate, the ATO should approach the DGCA for flight clearance.
e. States and ATOs manage flight schedule, frequency etc. with regard to all arriving passengers. They should also coordinate with each other where chartered flights have mixed domicile passengers.
f. Where required, chartering entities finalize quarantine arrangements directly with the States.
The contact list of State Coordinators who will be the points of contact for ATOs (both Indian and foreign) have been shared with the ATOs who can work out the schedule of their chartered flights with them, from now onwards. Proposals which have already been submitted and processed are being conveyed to the ATOs. The charterers may check with ATOs if their proposals have been processed. New requests need not be placed for those flights which have already been processed.
The Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General of India, Dubai will provide full assistance in this transition phase for operating chartered flights under Covid-19 situation.
The Embassy of India and the Consulate would like to thank the UAE authorities for their continuing wholehearted support in this process of repatriation of Indian nationals.
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