Airlines curtail flights to Dubai, hitting New Year revellers hard

MUMBAI: Airlines have massively curtailed their flight operations to Dubai from Mumbai, Delhi and other Indian cities, with over forty flight cancellations by two airlines alone for the period between Monday and January 3. With Dubai being the most popular foreign destination from India, the last-minute flight cancellations by airlines made airfares shoot up, a dampener for New Year revellers.
Dubai-based Emirates, which used to operate 14 weekly flights to Delhi and Mumbai each, will operate only nine each from Monday onwards for a week, said a source. Vistara, which operated 14 weekly flights to Dubai from Delhi and 13 weekly flights from Mumbai till Sunday, will now temporarily operate only four weekly from Delhi to Dubai and no flights from Mumbai, said a Vistara spokesperson. Air India will continue to operate its schedule to Dubai though, said an Air India official. Travel industry insiders said that airlines have cancelled flights due to quarantine norms and other concerns over the new strain of the coronavirus.