BENGALURU: The massive second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, which kicked off on Saturday with the dispatch of three flights to the Middle East, will repatriate Indians stranded in 40 countries by June 3.
The Karnataka leg of the operations by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express will begin on May 18 with the first flight from Dubai to Mangaluru with 177 passengers.
Airport sources said over 3,800 passengers will be brought to Karnataka in 17 flights from 14 countries over 19 days. The countries include the UAE, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, USA, Qatar, Indonesia, Australia, Canada, Philippines, Ireland, Canada, France, and Germany. Seven flights will terminate at Bengaluru. The remaining nine flights will have stopover at KIA and move to Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Hyderabad.
As many as 745 passengers will be flown to Bengaluru from the US - San Francisco (May 19), New York (May 25) and Washington DC (May 28). A minimum of 137 passengers to a maximum of 323 per flight will be allowed, an airport official said. Air India Express will operate 36 flights, one from Kuala Lumpur and the rest from Middle Eastern countries. This includes three to Karnataka with a total capacity of 540 passengers.
According to data released by Air India, 675 passengers were brought to Bengaluru on six flights from May 11 to May 15 in phase-I. Meanwhile, another passenger train from New Delhi arrived in the city on Saturday morning with 503 passengers. All the passengers were quarantined within a few hours of reaching the station without any problems.