Air India Express (AIE), which operated 74 repatriation flights to West Asia, Malaysia and Singapore in the first two phases of the Vande Bharat mission to bring back stranded Non-Resident Indians, has deployed 20 aircraft for operating 95 flights in the third phase.

The AIE, national carrier Air India’s low-cost wing, has selected cabin and cockpit crew from Mumbai and Delhi for operating the flights till June 4. As many as 1,000 crew are involved in the operations. The 9-10-hour duty time of the cockpit crew is a challenge for the AIE.

In addition to the Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Kozhikode and Kannur airports, the repatriation flights are being operated to Chennai, Tiruchirappally, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar.

The AIE is also carrying resident permit holders and Bahrains who clear the protocols and standard operating procedures and get clearance from the foreign office to Bahrain on the flights that leave here. Omanis stranded in the country are also being taken back to Muscat.

In Phase III that began on May 26, the airline will not operate services to Malaysia and Singapore. “We have been asked to operate services to key airports in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Doha, Muscat and Salalah. All the repatriation flights fly with full load and there is a huge demand for seats to fly back to India,” an airline official told The Hindu.

‘Low fares’

The list of flyers is worked out by the Ministry of External Affairs and handed over to the Indian Embassies who in turn informs the AIE. The airline calls up the passengers and issues tickets. “The fares are kept at the lowest. In the UAE-India sector, only ₹13,000 is charged as one-way fare. The fact that the aircraft is going empty from here should be taken into account,” he said.

The crew are subjected to COVID-19 tests before and after flying. The crew in the flights from abroad are taken straight from the airport to the Medical College Hospitals for tests. They are accommodated in hotels and allowed to go home only after getting the test results. “Still, the crew are finding problems in entering their apartments in many cities and this is turning out to be a headache,” the official said.