In addition to Mission Vande Bharat, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted permission to around 870 foreign chartered flights to fly in and out of India to help over 2 lakh stranded people reach their destinations during lockdown.
While giving more details on the flights, DGCA said, “Major airlines including Qatar Airways-81, KLM Dutch-68, Kuwait Air-41, British Airways-39, FlyDubai-38, Air France-32, Jazeera-30, Air Arabia-20, Gulf Air-19, Sri Lankan-19, Biman Bangladesh-15, Korean Air-14, Delta-13, Saudia-13 and Air Nippon-12 took part in the operations. Several airlines helped in the humanitarian mission of taking stranded people to their destinations.”
Apart from these, airlines like Air New Zealand-12, Thai Air Asia-11, United Airlines-11, Iraqi Airways-11, Oman Air-10, Ural Airlines-9, Lufthansa-8, Somon Air-8, Condour-8, Emirates-5, Etihad-5, Aeroflot-4 & Virgin Atlantic-4 also took part in the chartered operations. During these flights, DGCA and foreign airlines ensured that all people followed the strict guidelines. In some cases, flight privileges were also revoked of those passengers who refused to wear facial coverings during the Covid-19 situation.
The Indian government has started Mission Vande Bharat on 6 May to help stranded Indians reach their homes through special international flights amid the lockdown. Around 480 flights have brought back more than 90,000 Indians from 52 countries and carried more than 24,000 people on outbound flights. Meanwhile, domestic flight services have already been resumed since 25 May but international passenger services continue to remain suspended in the country.