The government has firmed up plans to launch the fourth phase of Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian citizens stuck in foreign destinations from July 3, according to news agency ANI. It quoted external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Shrivastava to say that phase-4 of the mission will particularly focus on countries that have a large number of Indian citizens who have registered with the government to return.
The development follows the announcement of government’s decision to explore the possibility of establishing bilateral arrangements to address concerns of discrimination against airline carriers from other countries, who were not given permission to operate flights from India.
The government had said on Tuesday that it was contemplating establishing bilateral bubbles-- India-US, India-France, India-Germany and India-UK in response to demands from airlines in these countries to fly out passengers from India. The development on Tuesday followed restrictions imposed by the US on operating Vande Bharat flights to destinations in that country beyond a 30 day deadline.
The order said Air India will have to file applications for authorisation for repatriation flights at least 30 days before the date of the proposed flight.
A total of 96 flights to various cities in the US between June 12 and July 2 under the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission won’t be affected by the restriction imposed by the US.
The Vande Bharat Mission, which commenced from May 7, is in its third phase, which began on June 11.
According to the latest data released by the ministry of civil aviation, Air India group has operated a total of 1,414 flights (both inbound and outbound) carrying a total of 182,313 passengers till June 24, 2020.
The ministry has also said that a total of 4,87,303 repatriation requests were received from Indians citizens stranded in various countries of which 2,63,187 have been brought back.