SpiceJet offers to fly people going back to Bihar from Delhi, Mumbai due to lockdown over coronavirus COVID-19 threat

In a statement issued by its CMD Ajay Singh, the airline said that it is ready to offer the services of its aircraft and crew members to the government for any humanitarian mission during the 21-day lockdown and the airline is ready to operate some flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Patna to alleviate the suffering of migrant workers, especially those from Bihar.

MUMBAI: Private airline SpiceJet has offered to fly people going back to Bihar from Delhi and Mumbai due to the 21-day lockdown announced by the Prime Minister to combat the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement issued by the airline, its CMD Ajay Singh said that SpiceJet is ready to offer the services of its aircraft and crew members to the government for any humanitarian mission during the 21-day lockdown and the airline is ready to operate some flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Patna to alleviate the suffering of migrant workers, especially those from Bihar.

While domestic and international passenger flights have been banned till April 14 midnight, IndiGo and GoAir have also offered their aircraft and crew and staff members to the government for any mission required to contain the spread of coronavirus.

"We have offered our aircraft and crew for any humanitarian mission that the government needs us to fly. We are already flying food, medicines and medical equipment for government every day (on our freighter aircraft)," the SpiceJet CMD CMD said. 

"We would like to alleviate the suffering of the migrant workers, especially those from Bihar, by flying some flights between Delhi/Mumbai and Patna," he added.

PM Narendra Modi had on Tuesday imposed a 21-day lockdown, which came into force on Wednesday, to check the spread of the deadly virus which has claimed at least 19 lives and infected over 700 people so far in India

Currently, while there is a ban on international and domestic passenger flights in the country, all-cargo flights and flights specifically approved by the DGCA can operate as usual, according to the aviation regulator.