No flights from Mangaluru to Dubai for at least the next 10 days

Dubai: There will be no direct flights from Mangaluru International Airport to Dubai for at least the next 10 days. An official with the airport in the south Indian city said the delay was because the airport at present cannot meet UAE’s requirement of a rapid PCR test four hours prior to departure.

The airport, which serves the coastal city of Mangaluru in Karnataka, is also used by passengers from north Kerala to travel to UAE and other Gulf countries. The airport handled more than 2.24 million passengers between 2018 and 2019 and is among India’s 50 busiest airports.

UAE on Tuesday announced that fully-vaccinated residence visa holders from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda can return to the country. On Thursday, flights from India were the first ones to land in Dubai with stranded UAE residents. All passengers with a valid UAE residence visa who have been fully vaccinated in the UAE and who hold an official vaccination certificate issued and approved by relevant authorities in the UAE are permitted to return to the UAE.