There has been a hue and cry in India also about Air India charging $1000 per seat to evacuate and asking people who do not have the resources to give an undertaking. After much shouting and screaming about day light robbery, the minister in charge clarified as under
1) This is not termed as an evacuation as during the gulf war which the Indian govt footed the bill.
2) The tourists and people in Egypt from India requested from the embassy to organize a charter that they would pay for to assist them to get out.
3) The consulate in a matter of 24 hours organized an aircraft to fly empty to Cairo and bring passengers back and do this loop multiple times till all were evacuated.
4) Many did not have papers as they could not go back to the hotel or for other reasons so the consulate set up a desk at the airport to assist with this.
5) There were minimal or no services at Cairo airport and the crew agreed to overlook their flight time restrictions for this carrying extra fuel and food from Bombay.
A 747-400 is being used for this purpose. Average load is about 280 pax so far
I am assuming therefore a $1000 is a fair charge to cover all these expenses.
I am also assuming similar maths is being done by other carriers and therefore do not feel anyone is making a killing doing this. In the same token do not expect a free lunch.
