Emirates offers special fares for amnesty seekers

21 August, 2007:

Amnesty seekers, including Indians, who wish to leave the UAE under the government's three-month-long amnesty scheme, will be offered special fares by Emirates Airlines.

A report said that amnesty seekers can avail of discounts ranging from 22 to 55 per cent on tickets to certain destinations. The UAE government had in June 2007 set a deadline of three months for all illegal foreign workers to either get legal status to stay in the country or face deportation.

Emirates is offering special fares to 13 destinations for expatriates who wish to leave the Arab nation under the government's amnesty program.

Air India is also facing a steep rise in demand for additional seats in its India bound flights especially south India. Huge demand has prompted Air India
to deploy the Air-India Express to offer additional seats so that the airline could accommodate the rush of passengers who have availed amnesty. Air
India will also operate two additional flights on August 19 and 22, 2007 to Hyderabad via Mumbai to meet the demand of amnesty-seekers, said a report.

Over 1.4 million expatriate Indians work in the UAE, most of them contract workers. In Dubai alone, Indians comprise over 60 percent of the city's total
population of over 1.4 million. The Indian consulate in Dubai has already received more than 33,000 applications for emergency certificates from Indian workers till last week, the report added.