United Airlines Is Set To Start Flights From Delhi To The US This Sunday

Travelers are going to get a major relief for those plying between the US and India. Early on Saturday morning, United has decided to resume their flight services to and fro from Delhi this Sunday. The decision has been taken hours after flights have been temporarily suspended following the confusion over the testing requirement of the crew members of RT-PCR.

United is the only flight service that has regular flights to India. Currently, they have non-stop services between Delhi and San Francisco, Newark, and Chicago. The only other airline is Air India that flies to direct US destinations like Chicago, Newark, Washington, and San Francisco. Apart from the flight services from Delhi, United also provides a Mumbai-Newark connection.

Early on Sunday morning, the airline has said in a statement that they are scheduled to resume flights to the United States from Delhi on 25th April on Sunday.

The issue arose with United when the United Airlines flight between New York (Newark) and Delhi called UA 801 landed in Delhi on Thursday night. There has been a disagreement regarding the testing for the crew from this particular flight. They are not alighting from the Boeing 777 and they have been trying to fly back to Newark. One also saw the airline as it has decided to take off from this place without any of the boarding passengers who have been waiting to do so at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport.

According to sources, it has been found that it has been insisted by a government official that the RT-PCR test has to be conducted on the crew for the UA 801 that was about to fly back as UA 802. This has happened despite clear orders were provided by the aviation ministry for not going for the asymptomatic crew that has a quick turnaround (QTA) of international flights that fly out of India and do not alight from aircraft. Sources have also added that the disagreement has seen that the United flight has left for Newark without boarding a single passenger.

A statement also came out from United that they have been seeking clarity regarding the travel requirements to India for Covid-19 as on 22nd April, they have temporarily suspended their services to Delhi and all the corresponding return flights have been canceled. They have been working to come up with alternate options for the customers and are planning to resume the scheduled services very soon. The same is going to happen from Sunday and this is a good thing for the passengers.

It has been said by the aviation ministry that they have been getting requests from the airlines for exempting the pilots who are operating the international flights from the tests of RT-PCR. According to current norms, this has not been allowed. Nevertheless, an exemption has been made for all the crews of the QTA international flights who do not alight from the aircraft.