Vande Bharat Mission: Air India will operate 75 flights to US, Canada from June 11 to June 30, says Civil Aviation Minister HS Puri

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said that national carrier Air India will operate 70 flights in the third phase of “Vande Bharat Mission” to evacuate Indians stranded in the US and Canada between June 11 to June 30.

Taking to Twitter, Puri said, “More flights being added to Vande Bharat Mission to enable stranded and distressed Indians to return home. Air India will operate 70 flights to destinations in the USA and Canada under Phase 3 of the mission from June 11-30, 2020."

AirIndia has announced that it will open bookings from 1700 hrs on 5 June for 75 additional flights to destinations in US & Canada including New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington, SFO, Vancouver & Toronto under 3rd Phase of Vande Bharat Mission between 9-30 June 2020.@MoCA_GoI — Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) June 3, 2020

The national carrier Air India also informed on Wednesday that it will be operating 75 flights from India to select destinations in the United States and Canada under the “Vande Bharat Mission.”

"Under #MissionVandeBharat, AI will be operating 75 flights from India to select destinations in the USA and Canada from June 9 to 30, 2020. Bookings on these flights, ex India only, will tentatively be open from 1700 hours on June 5, 2020, only through Air India website," Air India tweeted.

#flyAI: Under #MissionVandeBharat, AI will be operating 75 flights from India to select destinations in USA and Canada from 9th to 30th June 2020. Bookings on these flights, ex India only, will tentatively be open from 1700 Hrs on 5th June 2020 only through Air India website. — Air India (@airindiain) June 3, 2020

Air India has brought 3,891 people from Dubai, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Bahrain, Salalah, Moscow, Kiev, Madrid, Tokyo, Dhaka, Bishkek, Almaty, Riyadh and Dammam on June 1. 

More than 50,000 stranded Indians have been evacuated under the Vande Bharat Mission.

The government plans to evacuate another 100,000 by June 13, the Aviation Minister said. More than 57,000 citizens have returned to India on flights being operated under Vande Bharat Mission since May 6, he had informed.

The massive repatriation exercise was launched on May 7. In the first phase of the mission from May 7 to 15, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express operated 64 flights to bring back around 15,000 people from 12 countries. 

Till June 2, Air India brought back 25,046 passengers under the second phase of this mission.