Dubai: India’s national carrier Air India has exempted the UAE from a steep fare hike it implemented for stretcher services from July 20, Gulf News can reveal.
The airline had issued an internal circular revising the calculation of international stretcher fares based on International Air Transport Association (IATA) YIF fares, the costliest category, hitting hard patients requiring the service.
Fares were increased four to five times for transporting stretcher-bound patients to different routes in India with immediate effect on Friday.
According to aviation experts, the YIF category fares issued by IATA are higher than the normal business class fares issued by carriers.
Following abacklash from Indian social workers and other community members, the airline on Monday revoked the fare revision in the Gulf sector, sources said.
“The fare hike has been retained for other international sectors and the domestic sector, but the Gulf sector has been exempted from the hike,” said a source.
He said the stretcher fare for a patient travelling from Dubai to Delhi, which was around Dh7,000, had been hiked to more than Dh35,000, the most expensive among all the routes from the UAE to India.
The previous fares to other routes in India from Dubai varied between Dh4,600 and Dh7,300.
With the revocation, sources said the previous fares would be reinstated in the UAE and other Gulf countries.
They said the airline will continue to calculate stretcher fares based on the K and other mid-range categories of carrier-issued fares depending on the availability of seats.
Support for needy patients
Social workers in the UAE have welcomed Air India’s decision.
Prasad Sreedharan, a member of the Indian Consulate’s community volunteer team handling needy patients, said he had posted a video objecting to the move on social media and had decided to convene a meeting of social workers concerned to take it up with the Indian government.
Anwar Naha, president of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, said Indian expats, especially social workers, were already aggrieved that their pleas to cancel fees for repatriating bodies were not heard by Air India.
“This [stretcher fare hike] was the next jolt from the airline which should be supporting the interests of the needy expats,” he said.
Social workers said Air India has been the preferred airline to repatriate bedridden and stretcher-bound patients from the UAE since it offered the cheapest fares.
According to sources, the airline flew more than 50 patients, most of whom were blue-collar workers, in stretchers from Dubai and Sharjah to various destinations in India in the past six months.
Many such patients avail the benefit of the Indian Community Welfare Fund under the Indian missions to meet the stretcher fare.
After the fare hike from Friday, sources said at least four requests for stretcher service with Air India had been cancelled and those passengers opted for another Indian carrier.
