India-UAE travel: Indian expats plan holidays back home as flight rules ease

Dubai - Many expats eagerly looking forward to spending time with their families back home.

With flight rules eased from some restricted countries to the UAE, many Indian expats are looking to fly home on vacations or to attend to urgent matters and emergencies.

Vinod Thangoor can’t wait to see his parents in Bangalore after a 24-month wait.“I last visited India in August 2019. Since then, it has been an agonizing and anxious 24-month wait to see my parents, who live alone in Bangalore. I am worried for their health. Daily Zoom/ToTok calls are just not enough. Now that flights from India have opened up. I will be flying home at the earliest. I thank the UAE government for making this happen,” said Vinod, global commercial director of Xentrix Global FZE LLC.

N.M. Aboobaker, a relieved parent from Mussafah in Abu Dhabi, who is flying to Kerala with his family on Sunday, said: “I took a PCR test for everyone today. Our actual plan was to spend the summer vacation in Kerala, but it got marred by travel curbs. My kids Reem Fathima, Riham Thasneem and Raneem Aboobaker were all frustrated at being unable to fly home during the holidays. Now, I hope to give them at least three weeks of enjoyment before the academic year starts,” said Aboobaker.

Meanwhile, Vaneesha Noronha from Oud Metha in Dubai, is looking forward to her parents and in-laws seeing their baby Amaira. “We are delighted at the possibility of traveling to India. We are eagerly looking forward to take our baby to Mumbai to see her grandparents and family, as they are missing out on spending time with her due to the pandemic. We would love to fly home as long as we can be sure of returning to the UAE without restrictions,” Vaneesha told Khaleej Times.

Zenella Braganza and her siblings who reside in Dubailand, also plan on reuniting with their mother in Goa after 20 months. “The resumption of flights from India is a huge relief for me and my siblings. We have not seen our mother since December 2019 and were to travel to Goa in June 2021, but cancelled plans due to uncertainty over return flights. Now that restrictions are lifted, we plan to fly home after 20 months. Also since we are fully vaccinated it puts our mind at ease about returning. This is definitely going to be an emotional catch-up!” said Zenella.

Fathima, a Grade 6 student, is thrilled to no extent and counting hours to her flight. “We are so happy. We were eager to meet our grandparents. We have been staying home for nearly two years. If we stay put like this, maybe our grandparents will forget our faces,” Fathima told Khaleej Times.

While travel agents and airline officials in Dubai said that they were yet to see a spike in outbound travel to India, there is huge demand in Abu Dhabi for the India sector.