Air India flight, part of Vande Bharat mission, from Singapore lands at Delhi with 234 passengers
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The flight was part of the Vande Bharat mission which started on Thursday to bring back stranded Indian nationals home amid the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown.
An Air India repatriation flight from Singapore landed at the Delhi airport on Friday morning with 234 passengers.
The flight was part of the Vande Bharat mission which started on Thursday to bring back stranded Indian nationals home amid the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown.
The B-787 plane of Air India with 234 passengers landed at the Delhi airport around 11.45 am.
On Monday, the Indian government announced plans to begin a phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad due to the lockdown from May 7. The government also said that Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
A total of 354 Indian nationals, including 11 pregnant women and a pair of twins, returned home on Thursday in the first two flights from the UAE to Kerala.
India imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country, grounding all international flights since mid-March. Under the repatriation plan, the government facilitated the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.
The aviation sector has been hit hard due to the suspension of all scheduled commercial passenger flights during the lockdown in the country which began on March 25.
