CHENNAI: Air India achieved a historic milestone of flying over one million passengers into and from the country ever since the Coronavirus-induced lockdown.
From the launch of Vande Bharat flights on May 7, Air India carried over one million passengers covering 74 destinations in 54 countries and operating 7,791 flights till date under Vande Bharat Mission and Air Transport Bubble arrangements, said a statement. Going by the sheer number of passengers and number of countries covered, this is one of the biggest evacuation exercise by any civil airline. A further 1,600 flights are planned till December.
Air India had risen to the occasion to fly two Jumbo aircrafts to evacuate stranded nationals from Wuhan in January, thus scripting probably the first medical evacuation flight of this magnitude. Since then, the saga of evacuation flights continues... Tokyo, Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt, London and eventually to most corners of the world, where no Indian carrier has ever flown into.
Air India has ramped up its operations to countries like the UK, connecting London with several cities in India, like Cochin and Goa. It is set to launch flights to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in November under the Air Bubble system.
Working with the Government under the Mission Lifeline UDAN, Air India has been ensuring that critical medical supplies and other essential items from overseas reach every corner of India. Besides, multiple flights are being operated to distribute medical supplies to various countries. Air India is flying currently to over 50 domestic destinations. It is set to launch the much-awaited Amritsar-Nanded flight from November 10.