India-UAE flights: Why passengers have to reach airport 5-6 hours before departure

As India-UAE flights have resumed from August 7 under specific guidelines, airlines have started issuing directives for the passengers. Air India’s subsidiary Air India Express on Wednesday issued guidelines asking passengers to reach the airports six hours in advance. A similar directive was issued by IndiGo earlier.

The UAE has mandated a negative PCR test of every passenger conducted not more than four hours before the flight. Because of this time stipulation, the tests have to be done at the source airports. “The teat counters will start 4 hours before the departure time and would close 2 hours prior to departure,” the Air India Express said, asking flyers to reach the airports at least six hours prior to the scheduled departure.