6.76 million Indians brought back through Vande Bharat Mission

The government launched the VBM in early May last year to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to travel restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic.

India has brought back 6.76 million stranded passengers with the help of the special international flights as Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) operating since May last year. According to the civil aviation ministry, over 8,500 distressed Indian returned to the country on Saturday alone.

(PTI)

The government launched the VBM in early May last year to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to travel restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday tweeted, “It is not just a mission that brought back stranded & distressed citizens from around the world, but Vande Bharat has been a Mission of hope & happiness; of letting people know that they will not be left behind even in the most testing times. 67.5 million…& continuing to grow…” (sic)

According to the ministry of civil aviation ministry (MoCA), most of the Indians returned to India on March 20 from the Middle East. Arrivals from these countries included flights from Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Riyadh, Doha, Salalah, Bahrain. Other arrivals included flights from Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Singapore, San Francisco, Nairobi, London, Dammam, Jeddah, Paris, Frankfurt, Washington, Toronto, Newark, New York, Chicago, Vancouver and Kathmandu.

Puri also said that despite rising Covid-19 cases in some regions, necessitating restrictions and imposition of compulsory RT-PCR, the number of domestic fliers is growing readily towards pre-Covid figures. He tweeted, ‘..2,47,037 fliers on 2330 flights on 19 March 2021. More than 26.3 million fliers since May 25.” (sic)

Until March 19, total flight movements was 4,663 and total footfalls at Indian airports was 4,96,076. However, the minister had on Friday also said that the last few days have seen a decline in the number of air passengers largely due to restrictions and imposition of compulsory RT-PCR test by various states.

While MoCA has increased the lower limit of airfare band (implemented in May 2020) twice a month, flight capacity continues to remain at 80%.

.