Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Two special flights of the national carrier left for India on Tuesday in the second leg of the government of India's largest repatriation of its nationals stranded abroad, dubbed as Vande Bharat Mission. Air India's flight, carrying 152 passengers, took off from King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh at 12.52 p.m., and arrived at Kozhikode airport in the evening while the second flight, with around 144 passengers on board, left King Fahd International Airport, Dammam for Kochi, both in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Air India will operate two flights on Wednesday — one from Riyadh to Kannur and the other one from Dammam to Hyderabad via Bangalore. The Air India flight from Riyadh to Vijayawada and Hyderabad has been advanced to May 22 at 1:45 p.m. from May 23 keeping in view of the convenience of passengers on account of the impending 24-hour lockdown that has been announced by the Saudi government starting from May 23, the Embassy said. There are six special flights scheduled in the phase 2 of the Vande Bharat Mission. However, efforts are being made to operate three more flights to India, said Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, ambassador of India. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Dr. Sayeed said that an additional jumbo flight, with a capacity of 397 passengers, will be operated from Riyadh to Trivandrum in Kerala at 1.30 p.m. on May 31. "Confirmation of two more additional flights from Jeddah and Dammam to Trivandrum will be made later," he said. Indian nationals who are facing emergency situations will be contacted by the Embassy soon for repatriation on the Trivandrum bound plane scheduled for May 31. The fare and other details will be notified soon, the Embassy said in a statement. Air India operated five flights in the first phase of the repatriation that began on May 8. More than 60,000 Indian nationals have so far registered to travel to India since the launch of the online registration on April 29. The Embassy and the Consulate are working around the clock to ensure the smooth operation of repatriation of all those stranded in the Kingdom. The government of India started on May 7 the mammoth operation to bring back around 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries on board 64 Air India flights. The second phase of the Vande Bharat Mission began on May 16 and will go through May 22. Indians stranded across 31 countries will return home on board 149 flights in this phase. Over 39 flights would be operating to and fro from the Gulf, which has the highest concentration of Indian nationals, during the second leg of the evacuation process.
