814 stranded flyers return from war-hit West Asia on 3 aircraft

Kolkata: Three Emirates Airlines flights ferried 814 passengers to the city on Sunday. Nearly all those who returned were stranded in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah.Flight EK 572 of the Emirates Airlines was the first to arrive at the city airport at midnight. It brought back 279 passengers.
Among those on board the flight were tourists from the city, including a dozen who were part of 30 holidayers from Kolkata. They had travelled to Dubai on Feb 27. On Saturday, 18 of these tourists came back through Mumbai and Hyderabad.The flight reached the city five hours late as services were suspended at Dubai International Airport after a drone strike on Saturday."We are relieved. These tourists, who had booked the Dubai to Abu Dhabi trip, are back in the city. We were tense when the war broke out. The govt there has tackled the situation. We have been able to complete the tour itinerary," said Tanay Biswas, a travel agent.His brother, Tathagata, stayed back. He returned on another flight later on Sunday. He was facilitating the return of the tourists."Most of the attacks were thwarted. In both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, life seemed quite usual during the day. But people were cautioned against any possible attack with the help of sirens at nighttime. Though the age of 95% of the tourists was between 50 and 70 years, most of them were spirited. Some were thrilled to witness a war-like situation, something that only a few tourists could ever get to witness or experience," said Tanay.According to the tour agent, the tourists' kin back in India were worried and tense as they watched the visuals of the strikes and counter-strikes on digital media.The Emirates flight flew back almost empty. It was carrying back barely 26 onboard.A second aircraft of the same airline, EK 570, arrived in the city in the morning. It reached at 7.46 am with 288 flyers.These returnees were also mostly from the state. The flight flew back with more flyers from the city than the previous aircraft that left. It carried back 79. A third Emirates flight EK 572 reached Kolkata at 6.55 pm. It had 247 flyers. The return flight had 127 passengers. Prior to the three Emirates flights, FlyDubai had flew two flights to the city. Etihad, Qatar and Air Arabia are yet to restart their service to the city since the turmoil erupted. But officials said it would be proper for resumption of flights to Kolkata from the war-struck Gulf only after aircraft to Europe and America would start flying again from there. "The load of flyers on flights to the city from Dubai is decent. People, who were stuck, are returning. But the number of flyers making their return journey to the region from the city is lesser than the normal times. Unless onward aircraft services to other regions resume, the airlines will not be able to normalise or regularize its flight operations to the city," explained an airline official.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Women's day wishes, messages and quotes !