Virgin Atlantic pilot wins UK PM’s praise for operating relief flight to India

NEW DELHI: A Virgin Atlantic Indian-origin pilot has won praise from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for operating a relief flight to India.

Captain Jaspal Singh

had “volunteered to fly 200 donated oxygen concentrators to India to help in the country’s battle against Covid-19,” according to the British PM’s official website.


“Jaspal is also a volunteer with the Sikh charity ‘Khalsa Aid’ which was founded in 1999 with aim of providing relief assistance to victims of disaster, wars and other tragic events, overseas and in the UK, and has been instrumental in ensuring oxygen concentrator machines reach people in need in India in response to the pandemic,” the testimonial reads.

Bedfordshire-based Singh has been awarded “the daily Points of Light award” that recognises outstanding individual volunteers for making a change in their community.

Johnson wrote a personal letter to Jaspal, saying: “Thank you for your enormous contribution to India’s battle against Coronavirus. The British people have stepped up in their thousands to help the people of India in a demonstration of the deep connection between our countries. I was inspired to hear of how you have taken to the skies to deliver hundreds of oxygen cylinders to people in need.”

The British PM’s website quotes Captain Singh as saying: “Having seen the devastating impact of Covid-19 in India, I wanted to do everything within my power to support the cause. It has been amazing to see the generosity of the general public, colleagues, friends and family who have donated much needed oxygen concentrator machines to ‘Khalsa Aid International’. This generosity inspired me to connect with Virgin Atlantic to see if we could enable these machines to reach the people of India, it was then an immense privilege to be able to personally fly these vital oxygen supplies. I have been overwhelmed by the support from donors to Khalsa Aid International and my employer Virgin Atlantic, its people and all their partners.”

Aviation personnel have been among the frontline workers in the fight against Covid right from the early days of the pandemic. Last January, Air India operated two jumbo jet flights to bring back Indians from Covid-origin city of Wuhan in China. From April-end, AI started Vande Bharat flights to fly back Indians from across the world as well as fly eligible people from here abroad depending on country-specific permissions. Later private airlines also joined in. Both AI and private airlines have so far operated hundreds of flights across the world to fly essential medical supplies, including PPEs in the early days.

“Hundreds of aviation personnel — who have been identified as frontline workers — have been infected by the virus. We got infected in the line of duty and brought the virus home to their loved ones. Despite this, vaccination drive for us did not start till recently. Jabs for everyone over 18 were allowed when we started running out of the jabs,” said a senior pilots of an Indian airline.

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