New Delhi: Going in line with the Centre’s guidelines, Vistara became the first airline in India to operate its services on Wednesday with fully vaccinated pilot and cabin crew members. As per reports, the special flight UK963 departed Delhi International Airport on Wednesday at 8:50 AM and arrived at Mumbai Airport at 11:10 AM. The same aircraft with the same crew members also operated the return flight from Mumbai at 11:55 AM and reached Delhi at 14:05 PM.
Issuing a statement, the airline said that it will operate more such flight services in the days to come as their number of fully vaccinated staff increases.
Recently, the airline had said that it had got nearly 100% of its eligible employees vaccinated with at least their first doses. This included Vistara’s airport and corporate staff, cabin crew and pilots. In the statement, the airline had also stated that it will continue to ramp up efforts to ensure all eligible employees receive their second doses as well in time, and are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Speaking to News18, Vinod Kannan, Chief Commercial Officer of Vistara airlines, said that the vaccination is the best known defence against the pandemic that is helping the world get back to normalcy, subsequently aiding the recovery of the aviation industry. “We have been consistently getting our staff vaccinated in our endeavour to ensure safety for them, their families and our customers whom they serve. This special flight operated by our fully vaccinated cabin crew and pilots is a sign of our continued commitment towards making ‘flying feel safe again’, ” he said.
Not just Vistara, but other airlines across the globe have also resumed their operations with fully vaccinated staff. Notably, Qatar Airways became the world’s first airline to operate flights with fully vaccinated staff in April.