On July 23, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that a total of 1197 repatriation flights have been arranged in the Phase 4 of India’s Vande Bharat Mission to bring home stranded Indians from abroad.
Read on to find out more…
Phase 4 of Vande Bharat Mission A Success!
MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in a press briefing, “In phase 4 of Vande Bharat Mission, 1197 flights have been scheduled so far, including 945 international flights & 252 feeder flights. These flights are operated by Air India group, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir. They covered 29 countries. They’ll be reaching 34 airports in India.”
As of now, flights are being operated across 29 countries by Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir.
However, the central government has not announced the dates or the schedule for Vande Bharat Mission phase 5 yet.
Flight Fares Reduced As More Airlines Resume Operations!
The Vande Bharat mission began in May to bring Indians stranded abroad due to the international travel ban to curb COVID-19 came into effect in March.
In the earlier phases, the only operating airline was Air India, hence the flight rates were capped and tremendously expensive. A lot of passengers revolted against these rates as well. The indian airline made a lot of profit with this mission.
However, in the phase 4 due to air bubbles, high demand coupled with other airlines resuming their operations, Air India reduced their flight rates by upto 50 %. On some routes the flight fare battle is low like on UAE while on the other like US route its fierce.
On the UAE route, the airlines like Air India, Emirates, Etihad and Air Arabia are priced as low as Rs 14,000. The range of the fare is up to Rs 20, 000.
Air India is currently the cheapest option to fly to the US. It is selling its tickets at Rs 51,000 for US flights as against the American carrier, United airlines charging one-way Delhi to Newark flights from Rs 57,000 and San Francisco flights for Rs 67,000.
More flights has now resulted in cheaper flight rates!
Click here for a full July and August flight schedule of Air India’s repatriation flights.
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