Covid-19: Indian airports setting up PCR test stations to facilitate return of NRIs to UAE

New Delhi - Of the 34 international airports in India, more than one-third of them operate flights to Dubai under the supervision of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Airports in India are rushing to set up rapid PCR test stations to facilitate return of stranded NRIs to Dubai from June 23.

Of the 34 international airports in India, more than one-third of them operate flights to Dubai under the supervision of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

These airports have been working overtime since the announcement last Saturday about the resumption of flight services from India to Dubai from June 23 in compliance with the revised guidelines issued by the emirate which include a rapid PCR test four hours prior to the departure.

The AAI and India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) authorities swung into action immediately after the announcement was made in Dubai last Saturday.

Though many of the international airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata were equipped with the facility, others are following suit at a breakneck speed.

For instance, the southernmost Indian state of Kerala, which accounts for a maximum 65 per cent of Indian expatriate population in the UAE, has as many as four international airports, including in Kannur that became operational in December 2018.