New Delhi: Air India has now opened bookings for eligible foreign nationals and valid visa holders of the UK, the USA and Singapore stranded in India for outbound repatriation flights that will be operated from Friday.
Under the Vande Bharat Mission, the government will operate 64 flights to 12 countries. Forty of them will be operated by Air India and 24 by Air India Express.
According to the evacuation plan, there are 17 flights which are scheduled to operate from Delhi and Mumbai to New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, London and Singapore from May 8 to May 14.
For all flights between India and the USA, Air India is charging a fixed fare of Rs 1 lakh per passenger. For a Flight to London from India the cheapest fare is Rs 62,960 while for business class it is Rs 175,922. For flights between India and Singapore, the fare charge ranges from Rs 18,000-20,000 per passenger.
According to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs orders, in order to be eligible for booking one of these flights, a person who has an OCI card, or held the citizenship of a foreign country, or held a valid visa of more than one year of that country, or had the green card of that country, can travel on the repatriation flight leaving India under the Vande Bharat mission.
Notably, Air India's first evacuation flights to the United Kingdom which was scheduled on May 7 got delayed for a day as the COVID-19 test reports of the Air India crew member are still awaited. “Only those crew and staff, who are tested COVID-19 negative will be allowed to operate these flights,” stated the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines issued on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, The national carrier Air India is all set to operate its first set of evacuation flights from Thursday, the first evacuation flight from Abu Dhabi will land in Kochin at 9.40 pm today.
"On May 7, two flights will arrive in Kerala’s Cochin and Kozhikode airport from Abu Dhabi and Dubai with approximately 200 passengers in each flight. Another flight will arrive in Delhi from Malaysia, one flights to Mumbai from Singapore and one to Ahmedabad," said airline sources.
Conclusion:Out of the 64 flights, 15 flights from 7 countries will come to Kerala, 11 flights will come to Delhi, 3 flights to Jammu and Kashmir and 1 Flight to Lucknow. Under the Vande Bharat Mission, stranded Indians coming to the country will be charged - and on arrival, all the passengers will have to be screened and will have to be subjected to 14 day quarantine period.
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