Vande Bharat Mission in phase 3 may rope private airlines, talks are on

The third section of Vande Bharat Mission, India’s huge programme to repatriate nationals stranded throughout the globe as a result of Covid-19 disaster, is predicted to contain personal airways to extend the variety of flights.

The third section is about to start after June 13, when the second section will finish. India is bringing again about 32,000 residents on greater than 160 flights from 47 international locations throughout the second section, which started on May 16.

“There will be a third phase of repatriation. The second phase will last till June 13,” exterior affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava advised a web based information briefing.

“We are very receptive to the idea [of involving private airlines] and the ministry of civil aviation is already in discussions with private airlines to see how they can be included under the Vande Bharat Mission so that we can increase the number of flights,” he mentioned.

All flights within the first two phases had been being operated by state-run Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. The authorities has additionally used air pressure transport plane and naval warships to repatriate nationals from some international locations.

As of Thursday, a complete of 23,475 Indians have been repatriated below Vande Bharat Mission. They embrace 4,883 staff, 4,196 college students and three,087 professionals.

The second section has included locations corresponding to Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City and Lagos, and elevated flights to the US and Europe. “We are also looking at developing Frankfurt as a hub [for Europe],” Srivastava mentioned.

Several flights from different international locations, coming in to evacuate nationals of these international locations, have ferried stranded Indians. A flight from Buenos Aires that arrived on Thursday morning carried 62 Indians, whereas a flight operated by Iran’s Mahaan Air on May 17 carried about 300 Indian pilgrims from Ladakh.

Other flights have introduced again Indians from Argentina, Djibouti, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Peru and South Africa. A particular Tunisian navy evacuation flight took off from Tunis on Thursday with 25 Indian nationals and it’s anticipated to reach in New Delhi on Friday morning.

A complete of 259,001 Indian nationals in 98 international locations world wide have registered to return below Vande Bharat Mission. Most of them are staff (28%), college students (25%), professionals (14.5%), and short-term visa holders corresponding to vacationers (7.6%). Fishermen, deportees and Indian nationals who benefited from visa amnesties have additionally registered.

The authorities has already mentioned precedence will likely be given to these with compelling causes for returning, corresponding to lack of jobs, medical emergencies and senior residents. Among these with compelling causes who registered to return are 16,991 dealing with medical emergencies and eight,746 pregnant ladies and senior residents.

Following a spat between the Central and West Bengal governments over the shortage of flights to the state, 169 Indian nationals had been repatriated from Dhaka to Kolkata on May 18. Two extra Dhaka-Kolkata flights are scheduled for May 27 and June 1, and additional flights to West Bengal are deliberate from Europe, the UK and different locations.

Srivastava mentioned India can be facilitating the journey of international nationals on outbound flights below Vande Bharat Mission. Three flights had been operated to the UK on May 16, 18 and 20 and two flights to the US on May 18 and 20. Four extra flights are scheduled to the US and two to Frankfurt.

Wherever potential, passengers must bear testing earlier than boarding flights and in a couple of cases, those that examined positive for Covid-19 weren’t allowed to board. “There is full medical screening and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed on board,” Srivastava mentioned.