Man flies solo from Mumbai to Dubai on 360-seater Boeing 777 aircraft for Rs 18k

Mumbai: A 40-year-old man enjoyed a surreal experience after he turned out to be the solo passenger onboard a 360-seater Boeing 777 aircraft from Mumbai to Dubai.

The man, Bhavesh Javeri who had booked an economy class ticket priced at Rs 18,000 on the Emirates flight from Mumbai to Dubai on May 19 termed this journey as “money can’t buy experience”.

A frequent flyer Jhaveri says this is the first time he recorded a clip of himself boarding a flight. The air hostesses all clapped to welcome him onboard and the flight commander jovially offered to give him a tour of the entire plane.

“The novelty kept on coming through the flight in the form of the familiar inflight public address, delivered with a personal touch. ‘Mr Javeri, please fasten your seat belt. Mr Javeri, we are preparing to land.’ After we landed, I walked out leisurely and picked up my bag, the only one lying next to a conveyor belt,” Bhavesh Javeri, who has been a resident of Dubai since the past 20 years, told TOI.

It must be noted that the Boeing 777 burns about 17 tonnes of fuel worth Rs 8 lakh to fly a lone economy-class passenger. So how this was possible?

It is because of the travel restrictions imposed by United Arab Emirates or UAE on passengers coming from India due to coronavirus pandemic. Presently only UAE nationals, holders of UAE Golden visa and members of diplomatic mission can fly from India to UAE. “It’s probably a case of good passenger load on one direction, say, when they flew from Dubai to Mumbai, and then poor on the return leg. The airline would have operated the return leg anyway, even with zero paying passengers on board,” explained an official with an Indian carrier.