Mangaluru: The first flight from April 25 to Dubai from Mangalore International Airport (MIA) departed on Wednesday with only five passengers on the ship.
Air India Express Flight IX 383 departs at 2:00 p.m.
through Thiruvananthapuram.
The UAE has banned flights from India on April 25, and while the prohibition was appointed on August 5, Mia could not schedule flights to the Gulf state due to the illness of RT-PCR testing facilities at the airport.
The RPCR test is no more than four hours before going up is one of the main requirements for Dubai’s resident permit holders to enter the UAE.
Airline sources connect poor responses from passengers to concerns over the RT-PCR test.
Apollo Hospitals has launched testing facilities only on Tuesday.
The next flight to Dubai is scheduled on Friday, while Aie has scheduled a flight to Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
“Abu Dhabi flight on Thursday has 78 bookings until 3 pm on Wednesday.
It is expected to go up tomorrow,” said an executive of the airline.
A Mia spokesman said the airport currently has around 30 RT-PCR engines and more will be installed to avoid in a hurry.
The test results will be available in 30 minutes.