Kuwait based Indian expats are stuck in the UAE

Travel industry sources said thousands of expats, mostly Indians, who were looking to fly to their country of residence from their home countries via the UAE, say they are unable to get flight bookings.

Passengers from various countries are finding it difficult to continue their onward journey to Kuwait because flights are full and airfares have skyrocketed. The demand for UAE-Kuwait flights went up after travel restrictions for flights from about 35 countries were announced by the Gulf country.

Airfares to Kuwait from Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi now range from Dh2,265 to a whopping Dh8,270 for a one-way economy class ticket, against Dh300-Dh500 during the pre-COVID days. The high cost apart, passengers said tickets have been sold out for at least three weeks in October on most of the airlines’ websites. Moreover, industry sources pointed out that airlines have to block seats for social distancing and only 1,500 passengers are allowed to fly in to Kuwait from the UAE per day as a COVID-19 precautionary measure.

One travel industry expert said, “Since there are no direct flights from their home countries where they were stranded due to COVID-19, thousands of expats from Kuwait opted to fly back via the UAE after Dubai and Sharjah started issuing tourist/visit visas. They are spending 14 days in the UAE to complete the mandatory quarantine to enter Kuwait. As more and more people opted for this route to get back to Kuwait, ticket prices from the UAE have skyrocketed.”