AHMEDABAD: A flight carrying 170 passengers from Dubai landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad at around 2.30 am on Thursday, as flight operations from the UAE gradually resumed after days of disruption caused by the escalating conflict in West Asia.
The closure of airspace across the region has led to widespread flight cancellations after tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran escalated in recent days.
Separately, around 200 Indian tourists stranded in the UAE returned to their homes in Gujarat on Thursday, after flights landed in Mumbai and Kochi on Wednesday evening. The group, mostly from Kheda, Anand, Nadiad and Ahmedabad, had gone on a five-day tour of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which included a visit to the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi.
The tourists had left in batches of 50 from February 25 onwards. When airspace closures led to widespread flight cancellations across the region, they found themselves unable to return as scheduled.
Rajendra Patil, a Nadiad resident who traveled with three members of his family and about 50 others from the Nadiad area, said the group was staying at a hotel on the outskirts of Dubai when the situation deteriorated.
“We could hear explosions but we couldn’t see anything,” he said. “It was scary, but we were on the outskirts of the city and we were safe.” His group left Sharjah at around 4.30pm and reached Mumbai the same night, before returning to Nadiad on Thursday via buses.
Kushal Dhamisha, CEO of the tour company that organized the trip, said the return was coordinated with authorities at the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi, the Consulate General of India in the UAE, and local authorities in Dubai. He said that Air Arabia operated the return flights with the support of hotel staff in Dubai, local transportation teams and ground operators.
Indian diplomatic missions across the Gulf have been on alert since the unrest began. The Indian Embassy in Kuwait said that it is in contact with the stranded Indian citizens and is coordinating with local authorities.
“The Embassy remains fully engaged in assisting Indian passengers stranded in Kuwait due to the temporary closure of airspace. Embassy officials are in regular contact with the stranded passengers, and are closely communicating with the Kuwaiti authorities and managements of hotels and airlines concerned,” she said in a post on X. Similar efforts are underway at Indian missions in the UAE.
