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Vande Bharat Mission: Booking for 12 foreign destinations begin, AI flight schedule here
Air India is carrying one of the world’s largest evacuation exercise.
Air India has opened up bookings on Thursday on special flights to 12 foreign countries that will also bring back more than 14,000 stranded Indian citizens on the return flight.
Air India is operating 64 flights to 12 countries over nine days to evacuate Indian citizens between May 7 to May 15 under the government’s Vande Bharat Mission and the national carrier on Thursday said that citizens from these countries looking to return could book a ticket home on these flights. Indian nationals with at least a year-long visa to these destinations will also be allowed to travel in case of medical and other emergencies.
The Airline released a schedule of flights to the US, UK Bangladesh, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Philippines, UAE and Malaysia.
Several Air India Express flights will also connect domestic sectors like Delhi-Srinagar, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Hyderabad, Delhi- Ahmedabad, Cochin-Chennai, Delhi-Chennai etc during the period.
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Over 200,000 Indians struck abroad have registered for repatriation, Union minister Hardeep Puri said that the final number of evacuees could actually be lot more. Two ships have also set sail, one for the Maldives to bring back some 1,000 Indian citizens and another to the Gulf countries for repatriation of Indians stuck there.
Air India has made it clear that the entire cost of travel will be borne by the passengers and it will only allow the following category of people to book flights to the foreign destinations.
1. Nationals from these 12 countries
2. Indian nationals with at least a one-year long visa for these destinations
3. Green Card and OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) cardholders
4. Health workers holding a valid permit for travel to destination countries provided they have obtained written permission from the Embassy/High Commission of the destination country.
The airline has also specified that passengers must ensure that they comply with all travel and health requirements of the country of destination. Additionally, at the time of boarding the flight, they will have to undergo thermal screening as per health protocol and only asymptomatic travellers would be allowed to board the flights.
According to a detailed list of conditions put on the Airline’s website, all passengers will be travelling on these flights at their own risk
Here’s the latest schedule of flights released by Air India
