The Straits Times
Vacation from the virus: Maldives still welcoming Bollywood stars and rich Indians
Holidaymakers arriving from India now can only stay at a resort or a safari boat and are not allowed to check into guest houses in inhabited islands.PHOTO: UNSPLASH
PublishedApr 30, 2021, 5:51 pm SGT
https://str.sg/JFCc
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Wednesday, 28 April 2021 - 10:51
Wealthy people in India have been escaping the country on private jets and commercial airfares are skyrocketing as the country’s COVID-19 crisis worsens and international borders snap shut.
Indian tycoons and rich families have reportedly fled India for boltholes across Europe, the Middle East and Indian Ocean destinations such as the Maldives, which will ban flights from India on Tuesday, sparking a last-minute rush.
Australia will suspend passenger flights from India until May 15, the federal government announced on Tuesday, and Canada, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the UK have already done the same.
Ranbir Kapoor - Bollywood’s sixth highest paid actor - has been slammed after brazenly sharing pictures on Instagram with his girlfriend Alia Bhatt as they arrived at Mumbai airport on April 19, with the caption “Maldives calling”, The Sun reports.
Wealthy Indians are paying as much as 1.5 million rupees, or more than $A25,800, for a one way flight out of India, which includes ground handling and other fees, said Rajan Mehra, the chief executive officer of the New Delhi-based private jet firm Club One Air. It s not only the ultra rich, he told Bloomberg. Whoever can afford to take a private jet are taking private jets. Mr Mehra said in some cases, travellers would have to pay extra if the plane needed to be sent back to India empty. UAE authorities imposed a 10-day ban on flights from India on Sunday. Previously, the Delhi-Dubai route was one of the busiest in the world.
Amid the mounting COVID-19 crisis in India, the country's tycoons and others who can pay fares running into millions of rupees are booking flights to safe dens in Europe, the Indian Ocean, and the Middle East