38 repatriation flights to land in Mumbai by June-end

MUMBAI: From next week, 38 Air India repatriation flights will fly stranded Indians to Mumbai from cities in the Middle East, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, US, UK, among other countries, by June 30, said an official from the chief minister’s office (CMO) on Thursday. Apart from these, charter flights have been arranged to bring back stranded Indians to Mumbai.
In the next seven days, citizens from Gulf countries will be picked up from Doha in 3 charter flights, said the official. He added that a large number of appeals have also been registered from Indians stranded in Australia, US, Russia, Central Asia, Europe.
This is the first time since the Vande Bharat Mission began on May 7, that 38 flights are being operated to Mumbai, most as part of the third phase of the mission. In the previous two phases, only 30 repatriation flights were operated to Mumbai, which brought in 4,013 Indians from 19 countries.
An Air India official said, “While most of the flights are direct to Mumbai, a few like the ones from Moscow, Kiev, and Johannesburg, have been routed through Delhi. Tickets on most routes are sold within hours of opening the booking.” The tickets are being sold on the Air India website.
Once they arrive, passengers are put in institutional quarantine in hotels. Arrangements are being made to send those from other districts and states to their district headquarters, in coordination with the Mumbai suburban district collector’s office. “They are temporarily at the quarantine centre in Mumbai, till transport passes from their states come in,’’ the official said. TNN