Rs 20,000 for a chartered flight seat on this route

hartered flights from UAE to Kerala have become cheaper, with voluntary organisations like Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) securing nod to operate 70 of them.

With this, around 1.25 lakh people from Gulf countries are likely to reach the state shortly. A total of 407 chartered flights are waiting for permission to fly to Kerala carrying NRIs stranded in these countries.

The ticket rates in KMCC-chartered flights from UAE to Kozhikode have come down from AED 1250 (around Rs 25,000) earlier this month, to AED 990 (around Rs 20,000) for the flight operated on June 11, according to a report in The Times of India. However, it is still higher than the AED 750 (around Rs 15,000) charged for Vande Bharat Mission flights operated by Air India.

KMCC office-bearers have said they got the approvals, including from the state government, to operate 70 flights from UAE to Kerala. UAE KMCC national committee president Puthur Rahman said the flights will operate over the next two months.

Ebrahim Elettil, president of KMCC Dubai, said the organisation could now bargain effectively with private airline companies as it can now show approvals received from the government and also the assured number of passengers.

“Now another UAE-based airline has agreed to operate flights at AED 925 after we told them that we have enough passengers for 30 flights currently. We will strive to bring down the fares further. We are providing around 10 tickets free in each flight to the most needy,” the president of KMCC Dubai said, as per The Times of India report.

Apart from many voluntary organisations, industrial houses in the Gulf owned by Keralite business persons have also secured nod to charter flights to repatriate employees and other passengers to Kerala.