The second phase of the Vande Bharat Mission that is scheduled from May 16-22 will see as many 149 flights taking off to 31 countries and bring back 30, 000 Indians stranded abroad. This was intimate to the media by Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri .
During the first phase of the Vande Bharat mission, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express are scheduled to operate a total 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring 14,800 Indians from 12 countries on a payment basis.
Schedule of flights for phase 2 of #VandeBharatMission. High Commission will gradually start contacting Indian passport holders according to priority. Bookings will start closer to the date of departure: High Commission of India, London (UK) pic.twitter.com/Yi5fdlZaBI
— ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2020
India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 74,200 people and killed around 2,400 people in the country till now.
officials had said that Air India is planning to operate 149 repatriation flights to 31 countries between May 16 and May 22 during the second phase of the Vande Bharat mission.
“In the second phase, Air India and Air India Express will operate 149 flights to countries such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Oman, Kazakhstan, Australia, Ukraine, Qatar and Indonesia,” the airline officials stated in a report by a news agency.
