The first phase of the Vande Bharat mission began on May 7
New Delhi:
Air India will operate 114 flights while IndiGo and GoAir will operate respectively 457 and 41 flights between July 3 and 15 as part of the fourth phase of the Vande Bharat mission to repatriate Indians stranded in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
The government launched the mega-mission to repatriate stranded Indians from abroad on May 6. Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the fourth phase of the mission, Air India will provide 114 flights to India from 17 countries, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine and Vietnam, according to the airline document consulted by PTI.
Air India charter flights are scheduled to operate between July 3 and July 15, the official document said.
He said the airline will operate 31 flights from the United States and 19 flights from the United Kingdom. Earlier, an earlier Air India document said it would operate 170 flights to and from 17 countries.
Private airlines like IndiGo and GoAir will also play a major role in the fourth phase of the mission.
In a tweet Sunday evening, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said: “Private Airlines will have a significant participation in phase 4 of the Vande Bharat mission. IndiGo will provide 238 flights from Qatar and 219 from Kuwait; that GoAir will operate 41 flights from Kuwait. The number of carriers, flights and private destinations is expected to increase. “
Air India is expected to operate 272 charter flights to and from various countries during the third phase, which began on June 10 and will end on July 4.
The first phase started on May 7 and continued until May 16.
The United States Department of Transportation announced on June 22 that it had prohibited Air India from operating charter flights between India and the United States from July 22 without its prior approval, in apparent retaliation to the Indian government for do not allow US carriers to operate between the two countries.
On June 23, the Aviation Ministry said it was considering establishing “individual bilateral bubbles” with the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, allowing airlines from each country of the pact to operate international passenger flights.
After almost two months of suspension to fight the coronavirus epidemic, the government resumed regular domestic passenger flights from May 25, but in a shortened manner and by capping air fares according to the duration of the flight.
