India’s rich paid at least 100,000 pounds to book private jets in race to meet UK flight curbs deadline

Data analysis by the Times London showed that at least eight private jets flew into Britain in the 24 hours before the new travel ban could lock into place at 4 am. (Image: Shutterstock)

Super rich Indians shelled out an estimated 100,000 pounds to schedule private jets to fly them to the United Kingdom ahead of the country’s “red listing” of Indian travellers could begin on April 23.

Data analysis by the Times London showed that at least eight private jets flew into Britain from India in 24 hours before the new travel ban could come into force at 4 am on April 23. The journey from India to the UK is on average nine-hours long.

In fact, one of the jets — a 13-seater Bombardier Global 6000 from Mumbai— landed at London’s Luton airport just 45 minutes ahead of the deadline, while three other flights arrived narrowly missing the deadline.

Luton is London’s busiest airport for private aircrafts.

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UK added India to its travel "red list" on April 19 and the country's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the ban would come into effect from 4 am on April 23.

The announcement came just hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to India.

The UK "red list" names 39 countries, including India, South America, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The restrictions denies entry to anyone who has visited the listed nations in the previous 10 days. The only exception is for British and Irish citizens, who are allowed to return, but will have to undergo mandatory 10-days quarantine from time of arrival.

Hancock had said reason for the ban was because 103 COVID-19 cases of the "Indian variant" – B.1.617 – have now been found in the UK.

India is at present grappling with a severe second wave of coronavirus with about 3.5 lakh new cases per day. The national capital, Delhi is facing an acute shortage of oxygen and medical care facilities amid rising cases. Many hospitals were forced to send SOS alerts as the oxygen supplies touched critically low levels.

Also Read | Countries that have restricted travel from India: All you need to know

Race against time

The rush of private jets seemed like a desperate step by people in India as the London's largest commercial airport, Heathrow declined airlines to allow eight extra flights from India citing “existing pressures at the border”.

The request for extra flights from airlines was turned down because of concerns about queues at passport control, the BBC reported on April 21.

The Times’ analysis showed that eight executive jets landed at Luton, these include:

>> A Bombardier Global 6000 which arrived at 3.16 am on April 23 – a mere 44 minutes before the deadline. The aircraft is owned by the charter company Vista Jet and was flown from Dubai to Mumbai on April 22 to collect passengers. It flew over the Gulf, Iraq and Turkey to arrive at Luton.

>> A Bombardier Global 6000 which landed at Luton at 2.15 am on April 23 – an hour and 45 minutes ahead of deadline. This aircraft is registered to a private owner.

>> Two more Bombardier Global 6000s – both from Delhi – landed at Luton a little after 1 am.

>> Four of the eight jets came from Mumbai, three from Delhi and one from Ahmedabad.

>> Besides the private jets, Vistara’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner was the last commercial Indian flight to land in London at 7 pm on April 22, well within deadline.

A Vista Jet spokesman told the paper it “adheres to all restrictions” and is working with authorities in all countries it flies to and from. It added: “All passengers have prior approval to travel and national authorities are aware of exactly who is landing and from where.”

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Impact of ban

Those most impacted by the travel ban are families and students who were unable to make it back in time. These individuals will now have to self-isolate at home or student accommodation which has been registered on passenger locator forms and take follow up coronavirus tests for the National Health Service (NHS) to continue tracking their results.

The country has also necessitated a 10-day quarantine period at a government-approved hotel quarantine facility and two follow up PCR tests – the added cost for which is approximately 2,000 pounds per person.

Students are feeling the squeeze the worst as the additional requirements come at a time when they resume on-campus studies or start a new term in May.

The National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU-UK), a representative group for Indian students in the UK is working on steps to raise hardship requests and student discounts for the compulsory quarantine, while some UK universities are also reaching out to the government to offer assistance in the quarantine process on campus to help support some overseas students.

List of countries enforcing restrictions grows

The list of countries blocking flights from India is getting longer by the day as the country continues to report a record number of daily infections, hit hard by the second coronavirus wave.

On April 25 India recorded a single-day record rise of 349,691 (3.49 lakh) new COVID-19 infections, taking the country's total tally to 16,960,172 (1.69 crore). Active cases crossed the 26-lakh mark while the death toll increased to 192,311 (1.92 lakh) with a record 2,767 daily new fatalities, as per the Union Health Ministry data update on April 25.

Following the surge and the fear that travellers may carry the infection, the UK, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, UAE, Kuwait, Indonesia and Australia have banned flights from India.

Meanwhile, France has imposed mandatory quarantine for Indian passengers and the United States’ Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has advised against travel to India.

These decision have not come as a surprise for industry observers who expected international flights to and from India to get more restricted as a resurgent second wave of making governments in several countries wary.

They expect more governments to announce flight bans or travel advisories, unless there is a dramatic arrest in cases in India. "Nearly all international flights out of India, have at least one case of an infected passenger," a senior industry executive told Moneycontrol.

India has air bubble arrangements with 28 countries.

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