Air India brings home more Indians stranded in foreign lands under Vande Bharat mission, thousands more to come

India’s one of the biggest air evacuation missions, Vande Bharat has brought hundreds of Indians, stranded in various foreign countries, home. As of today (Thursday), the national carrier, Air India operated two flights and brought back 149 people from Manila and 163 passengers from Washington.

The flight from Manila in Philippines landed via Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at the Hyderabad international airport at 1:58 AM, while the one from Washington via Delhi landed at 8.22 AM.
All the passengers went through sanitized international arrivals of the main passenger terminal of the airport, they said. The airport also enforced social distancing among passengers right from the aerobridge to across the terminal, sources added.

According to Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in phase two of the mission, about 30000 Indians will return to their homeland from 31 countries on 149 flights that will operate from May 16 to 22. This is double the number of people brought back in the first phase.
Meanwhile, the Minister tweeted, “Mission Vande Bharat continues to fly high with flights that spread hope & happiness. 2171 Indians have returned onboard 11 flights from Bahrain, Newark, Manila, Dubai, Muscat, Singapore, Dhaka, Dammam & Kuala Lumpur till midnight 12th May 2020.


In the first phase of the evacuation mission, 2171 Indians were brought home from various foriegn lands.
Talking more about phase two, the aviation minister informed that Phase 2 will be between 16 and 22 May which, will also include flights from Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Canada, France, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Ukraine.