The Dubai aviation regulator cancelled Air India Express flights till October 2, citing that the flight had brought passengers with COVID-positive certificates twice during the last couple of weeks.

“A passenger, who had a COVID-positive certificate dated September 2, travelled on Air India Express’ Jaipur-Dubai flight on September 4. A similar incident had happened with a passenger on one of the airline’s other Dubai flights previously,” said one of the government officials.

Each passenger travelling from India must carry a coronavirus negative certificate to fly to Dubai, according to UAE government rule. The passengers must undergo a RT-PCR test four days prior to the journey.

“The notice has been issued on account of erroneous acceptance of one COVID positive passenger by the airline’s ground handling agents at Delhi and Jaipur on Air India Express flights to Dubai on Aug and 4th Sept, respectively,” the airline noted.

After the suspension order, Air India Express on Friday said that it had advised the employees to implement a three-tier checking mechanism to avoid any lapses.

The airline also mentioned, “Based on the airline’s communication to them, the concerned ground handling agencies have taken appropriate punitive action against their employees who have been held accountable for the lapse at Delhi and Jaipur,” it added.

“As an abundant precaution, the airline has advised the handling agents to implement a three-tier checking mechanism to avoid any such lapse in the future,” Air India Express said through a tweet.

It further stated, “As per information gathered, passengers who were seated in close proximity to the COVID positive passenger on each flight had undergone COVID test/quarantined as determined by the Dubai Health authority.”

Last month, Air India passenger flights were barred from landing in Hong Kong between August 18 and August 31 after 14 passengers on its Delhi-Hong Kong flight of August 14 tested positive for COVID-19 after arrival.

International flights have been halted in India since March 23 in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in the country. .

However, the central government allowed special international passenger flights to operate under Vande Bharat Mission since May. In July, India signed ‘air bubble’ agreement with a few countries to ensure connectivity till regular flights resume.