Combating coronavirus: More flights to India from UAE as private airlines join Vande Bharat Mission

Abu Dhabi - Last month, Indian Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri had noted that soon there will be participation from private airlines.

Private airlines have joined the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate stranded Indians from the UAE.
In the initial two phases, only Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express had operated. Now, phase-3 of the mission will have services of additional airlines IndiGo and GoAir.
Last month, Indian Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri had noted that soon there will be participation from private airlines.
As of Wednesday's announcement, private airlines will operate 10 services, including nine by IndiGo, from the UAE. IndiGo will fly to New Delhi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Gaya, Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata. The lone service by GoAir is to Ahmedabad.
These services will be from June 20 to 23.
On Tuesday, there was discontent among stranded passengers as 44 of the 45 new flights announced were only to Kerala.
In coming days, more announcements are expected as the phase 3 continues till end of June.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com 
 

• Abu Dhabi