New Delhi: The Government of Saudi Arabia has taken a crucial decision by announcing that they will not retain the passport of the Indian Airline crew members on arrival in the country and will issue a bar code instead, an Air India spokesperson has confirmed.
The decision brings cheer to the crew of Air India and Jet Airways, as the two Indian airlines have flights to that country. Indian authorities had taken the issue with Saudi Government and the move about not retaining the passport of the Indian Airlines’ crew came into effect from mid-February this year, the Air India spokesperson said.
The newly introduced bar code system will have a limited validity for the crew members to use.
The fresh development also comes close to the recent decision by Saudi Arabia for allowing a newly introduced Air India flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv fly over its airspace. The move is seen as a major diplomatic development in West Asia.
Jet Airways officials were not available for the confirmation.
Till now, the Indian crew members, who used to arrive in the country, were required to give away their passports to the Saudi authorities and were returned when they were about to board flight to their home country. This made a big hurdle for the crew members in the country.
In July last year, the Saudi Arabian Police in Jeddah had held four crew members of Air India as they were unable to show the original copies of their passports.
According to what an Air India pilot said, crew members of all airlines are required to submit their passports at the immigration office at Jeddah, which then issues a certificate. Airline staff deposit this certificate issued by the authorities at their hotel and keep a photocopy with themselves.
Thus, the staffers only will be left with photocopies of their travel documents during their stay in the country.
The crew members were out for dinner a day after their flight from Mumbai landed in Jeddah when a Saudi police team approached them to check their travel papers. When the airline staff failed to provide the original documents with them, they were put in a police van and their phones were also confiscated.
After the matter was resolved through coordination, it was decided that the airline staffers will be issued a special Air India identity card in the form of barcode.
Most recently, the Air India got the permission from the Saudi Authorities to fly their jet plane over the Saudi airspace to reach their destination of Tel Aviv, Israel. Due to the move by the Saudis, the distance between both the countries will be reduced effectively.
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