Manama: India will operate 106 flights from gulf countries to Kerala between July 1 and 15 during phase four of the Vande Bharat Mission, according to an official document.
Around 18,300 stranded expats will be repatriated to Kerala under the fourth phase, which will begin on July 1. A total of 39 flights and 33 flights will be operated on UAE-Kerala and Bahrain-Kerala routes, respectively. This is the first time 33 flights are being scheduled from Bahrain to Kerala. 12 flights will be operated between Kuwait and Kerala, while 11 each from Saudi and Oman. However, there are no flights scheduled for Qatar under the Phase 4, as per the document.
While the number of flights has come down compared to the third phase, where 165 flights have used to repatriate stranded Indians.
Under the fourth phase of the mission, a total of 347 flights will be used to repatriate the stranded Indians across the globe. Of these, Air India will operate 170 flights connecting India with Saudi Arabia, Canada, the US, the UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Myanmar, Japan, Ukraine and Vietnam, according to the airline’s document.
Like in the third phase, private airlines will be used in the fourth stage as well. In the initial two phases, only Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express had operated. But, phase-3 of the mission witnessed the participation of private airlines IndiGo and GoAir to repatriate stranded Indians from the UAE.
IndiGo, GoAir, SpiceJet, and Vistara have offered their services to the government to carry out repatriation flights in the fourth stage, sources said.
Earlier, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Shrivastava said that phase-4 of the mission will particularly focus on countries that have a large number of Indian citizens who have registered with the Indian missions to return.
The government started the mission on May 6 to help stranded people reach their destinations using special repatriation flights. Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On June 20, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government will start thinking on resuming scheduled international passenger flights in mid-July. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said last Friday it is extending the suspension of scheduled international passenger flights in the country until July 15. He added that some international scheduled services on selected routes may be permitted on a case-to-case basis.
