New Delhi: All Air India Express flights from/to Dubai will operate as per original schedule starting tomorrow, the Air India Express has announced hours after a ban of 15days was imposed on its operations in Dubai.

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Earlier in the day, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority said all operation of Air India Express to Dubai Airports were suspended for 15 days till Oct 2. The decision was taken after a Covid-19 positive passenger was found onboard a Jaipur-Dubai flight on Sept 4. It was second such instance, said SA Kankazar, Air Transport & Int'l Affairs Sector, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. 

As per the UAE government rules, each passenger travelling from India needs to bring an original COVID-negative certificate from RT-PCR test done 96 hours prior to the journey.

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"A passenger, who had a COVID-positive certificate dated September 2, travelled on Air India Express' Jaipur-Dubai flight on September 4. A similar incident had happened with a passenger on one of the airline's other Dubai flights previously," said one of the officials. Therefore, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority has suspended Air India Express flights from September 18 to October 2, the officials stated in the report.

It is to be noted that scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. However, special international passenger flights have been operating in India under Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements formed between India and other countries since July.

The United Arab Emirates is one of the 10 countries with which India has established a bilateral air bubble pact. In such a pact, airlines of both the countries can operate international passenger flights with certain restrictions.