Over 8 lakh Indians have been repatriated in 2,694 flights till now

India will operate 66 flights from the Gulf to India from 1 to 31 August to repatriate stranded Indian nationals under phase-5 of Vande Bharat Mission.

In the repatriation process the airports in Bahrain, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait will be covered in the Gulf region in addition to Sharjah, Dubai and Abudhabi airports in UAE.

Airport in Sharjah was the only airport in UAE where repatriation flights were planned to land but now it has been extended to Sharjah, Abudhabi and Dubai. Certain categories of passengers will be brought back to UAE from India.

“Phase-5 will reach out to more stranded citizens from 1-31 August 2020” Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in his tweet, adding that “more than 845 K people have returned since 6th May and more than 282 K have returned on evacuation flights operated by Air India and private carriers.”

Under phase 4 of the Vande Bharat Mission, so far a total of 1197 flights (945 international flights and 252 feeder flights) have been scheduled. These flights are operated by the Air India Group, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir from 29 countries to 34 airports in India.

Of these, 694 flights have reached India as on July22, repatriating nearly 1 lakh people so far. Phase 4 is expected to continue July 31by which time around 80,000 more people are expected to return.

Last week, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced the establishment of bilateral bubbles with some countries. Between July 22 – August31, Air India will be operating 30 flights a week to the US (New York, Chicago, Washington, New Jersey and San Francisco), 4 flights a week to Germany (Frankfurt) and 3 flights a week to France (Paris).

Over 8 lakh Indians have been repatriated in 2,694 flights till now.