Emirates plane flies from Mumbai to Dubai with just one passenger, here's how much he paid

A Dubai-bound Emirates Airlines with a capacity of 350 passengers took off from the Mumbai Airport with just one passenger on board. The Boeing (B-777) airplane flew a 40-year-old businessman named Bhavesh Javeri who travelled all alone in the entire plane on a ticket that cost him Rs 18,000. According to the ANI, the plane was entirely vacant due to UAE’s restrictions on the Indian passengers amid the rising cases of the new variant. "EK-501 Emirates plane operated from Mumbai airport to Dubai with one passenger. The flight took off at 4:30 am IST," sources at Mumbai Airport told ANI.

As per the UAE advisory in effect, only selective categories of the passengers are allowed to enter Dubai with a negative PCR antigen test for COVID-19. These include the members of diplomatic missions, holders of UAE golden visa, UAE nationals, passengers exempted and/or granted permission to enter the UAE by the appropriate authorities as well as passengers travelling on a business flight who have a valid COVID-19 PCR test certificate,  according to the Emirates airlines' website. The ban prohibits the passengers who have travelled from or transited through India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in the last 14 days to fly to UAE. The advisory reads that such travellers “will not be accepted for travel to or transfer through Dubai from any other point except for returning UAE nationals.”

UAE ban hikes airline tickets' price

Meanwhile, the CEO of Stargems Group had to travel solitary onboard the vacant flight. He was, however, welcomed inside of the planes with cheers, greets, and hoots and was also reportedly taken for a personalized tour of the airplane. UAE issued the travel ban on April 24 restricting overseas travellers’ entry within the federation. The Kingdom extended the ban on May 12, although exempting the long-term residency holders (such as the Golden Visa) and diplomats. Since the ban from India, the UAE-based airline tickets also witnessed a price hike, all the while skyrocketing demand of private jets from wealthy returnees.