The national carrier Air India has deployed 64 flights in the first phase to bring back 14800 Indians stranded in 12 countries from May 7 to May 13. This fully paid evacuation service ranges from Rs.15,000 to Rs.19,000 from the Middle East and Rs.50,000 from the Europe region and Rs. One lakh from the United States region. At present more than five lakh people have expressed a desire across the Globe to go back to India and this includes more than 60,000 people who lost their job due to COVID-19 led economic slowdown in the Middle East. There were more than 10,000 women wanted to go back to India due to pregnancy.
As per the data released by the Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday, among the 14800 people, 2000 are coming from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 2100 are coming from the United States in the first phase of Air India’s operation from May 7 to May 13. As many as 1750 each is coming from the United Kingdom and Malaysia and 1250 each coming from the Philippines and Singapore.
“64 Air India’s flights will operate in 1st week (7-13 May). 10 flights will operate from UAE, 2 from Qatar, 5 from Saudi Arabia, 7 from the UK, 5 from Singapore, 7 from the USA, 5 from the Philippines, 7 from Bangladesh, 2 from Bahrain, 7 from Malaysia, 5 from Kuwait & 2 from Oman. These evacuation services will be charged.
“The States will implement all standard prescribed preventive measures and arrange for a paid 14-day mandatory quarantine for these passengers.I want to reiterate that this is a limited operation that does not signal the resumption of domestic & international civil aviation services. We will consider reopening the Indian skies only after the current lockdown. This will depend on the evolving situation on the ground,” said Hardeep Singh Puri, the Civil Aviation Minister.
A majority of the flights will be landing in Kerala’s airports directly. Kochi is the destination port of ships from the Maldives and the Middle East. As many as 1400 persons will also be airlifted from Bangladesh and 1000 each from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The detailed flight schedule is published below this article.
Four naval ships set sail to bring back stranded Indians, two of them heading to Maldives INS Shardul, INS Magar and INS Jalashwa have been diverted from mission deployment to bring back stranded Indians. Indian Navy is working out plans to evacuate from UAE and Saudi Arabia, where the majority of Indians are stranded[1].
The detailed schedule of Air India’s 64 flights is published below:
References:
[1] Four naval ships set sail to bring back stranded Indians, two of them heading to Maldives – May 5, 2020, ThePrint.In
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