During the first phase of the Vande Bharat mission, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express scheduled 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring approximately 15,000 Indians.
After the successful first phase of 'Vande Bharat Mission' to repatriate stranded Indian citizens abroad, the government has planned 149 more flights to 31 countries between May 16 and May 22 during the second phase of mega repatriation effort.
Air India is planning to operate 149 repatriation flights to evacuate Indian citizens from 31 countries, officials said.
Lakhs of Indian citizens were stranded in different parts of the world as all scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended during the lockdown.
During the first phase of the Vande Bharat mission, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express scheduled 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring approximately 15,000 Indians from 12 countries, including the US and the UK, on a payment basis.
"In the second phase, Air India and Air India Express will operate 149 flights to countries such as the USA, the UAE, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Malaysia, Oman, Kazakhstan, Australia, Ukraine, Qatar and Indonesia," Air India officials said.
Flights are also scheduled from Russia, Philippines, France, Singapore, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Japan, Georgia, Germany and Tajikistan between May 16 and May 22, officials noted.
The flights will also be operated to Bahrain, Armenia, Thailand, Italy, Nepal, Belarus, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Most number of these flights will land in Kerala, Delhi and Karnataka. Of the 149 repatriation flights, 31 would land in Kerala, 22 in Delhi, 17 in Karnataka, 16 in Telangana, 14 in Gujarat, 12 in Rajasthan, nine in Andhra Pradesh and seven in Punjab.
Six flights each would have as their destinations Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, three flights Odisha, two will land in Chandigarh, one each will reach Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express have operated 31 inbound flights during the first five days of Vande Bharat mission, bringing 6,037 stranded Indians.
India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. So far, 70,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in India with 2,290 people succumbing to the disease.
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