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Air India Express’ Abu Dhabi ticket office shifts operations to ISC

The office will be open daily from 9am to 6pm from July 10 to accommodate large crowds booking flights.

The booking office of Air India Express in the Capital has temporarily shifted operations to India Social and Cultural Centre (ISC) Abu Dhabi at Al Mina.

The office will be open daily from July 10 from 9am to 6pm.

Arabian Travel Agency, the general sales agent for Air India Express, had to handle a large crowd of Indian nationals at its office on Electra Street ever since the direct sale of tickets for the Vande Bharat Mission started from June 28.

The office is on the first floor of a complex but a large queue of people often spills out into the street. Larger crowds are expected in the coming weeks as more flights are added in the fourth phase of repatriation and therefore operations have been moved to the ISC - the biggest Indian association facility of its kind in the UAE.

ISC has opened the doors of its main hall and ensures proper Covid-19 safety protocols are followed, an ISC office bearer said.

On Thursday evening, logistics to ensure a smooth transition from the Arabian Travel Agency to the ISC were carried out. There will be multiple ticket counters to deal with crowds and chairs for those waiting have been arranged with a safe distance between each other.

"We received a request from the Air India Express office here in Abu Dhabi to use our premises as a temporary ticketing office for repatriation flights," ISC general secretary, Jojo J. Ambooken, said.

"Air India Express faced a huge crowd at their office and that led to problems in the area. It caused inconvenience to other commercial establishments and residents."

"As a moral responsibility to help distressed nationals, we have offered our premises to Air India Express to service their office temporarily for issuing air tickets. We have obtained a special permission from the relevant authority to provide our premises for a limited period," Ambooken added.