Wednesday 31 January 2018

UAE: Dubai Court Sentences Passenger, PIA Suspends Flights To Kuwait And Salalah

Dubai’s Criminal Court has sentenced an Australian transit passenger to six months in prison plus deportation after he was convicted of assaulting a Dubai airport policeman.

The ruling was passed on January 28 after the court heard how the 53-year-old Australian man was transiting from London to Sydney via Dubai on July 25, 2017, according to local media.

A technical issue delayed the flight, resulting in passengers being deboarded after four hours waiting on the plane, which was due to take off at 8.30am.

Passengers were offered a hotel stay near Dubai International Airport.

When requested to have his luggage searched by customs inspectors, the man refused to place his luggage in the scanning device and became angry.

The airport police were called who tried to convince the defendant to have his bags searched.

He repeatedly refused and shouted at an Emirati corporal, claiming he had been on a long flight.

This prompted a request from customs officials for the policeman to handcuff him.

The man violently resisted and the two men fell to the floor, leading to knee and ankle injuries for the policeman.

Meanwhile, Pakistan International Airlines, the national flag carrier, will halt flights to Kuwait from February 1, officials said on Thursday.

It is pertinent to mention here that the airline had been incurring an annual loss due to its flight operations to the US, prompting the management to stop flights.

According to the official sources, the airline will no longer book flights for Kuwait through its reservation system from February 1.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is cancelling Salalah – Karachi and Muscat – Lahore flights from February 1, 2018, a senior official from PIA said.

Shahzad Paracha, country manager of PIA Oman, however, said: “We were forced to cancel some flights because of the shortage of aircraft.

But, we are hoping that we will soon able to restore these flights.”

PIA operates three times a week to Karachi from Salalah and two flights a week to Lahore from Muscat.


Tourism Observer

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