With demand from Indian citizens in the Gulf to fly home to cope with coronavirus disruptions still rampant, India's Ministry of Civil Aviation here on Tuesday released a full list of repatriation flights for August from the region to airports across India. From Aug. 1 to Aug. 29, Air India will ferry Indians on 22 flights from airports in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Another 23 flights flown by Air India throughout next month will repatriate Indian citizens from Bahrain, Doha and Muscat airports. The Ministry of Civil Aviation also released a partial list of "Vande Bharat" Phase V flights by the government-owned low-cost carrier, Air India Express. These are from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15. They include four flights daily out of Dubai from Aug. 1 to Aug. 5 and another 37 flights in total out of Dubai from Aug. 6 to Aug. 15. The low-cost airline will take off for India 79 times from Abu Dhabi and Sharjah during this 15-day window. India's mission to bring back its citizens from all over the world is called Vande Bharat. Air India and its low-cost subsidiary have brought back 259,764 Indians on 1,391 inbound flights in the first four phases of Vande Bharat mission so far. Its Phase IV will be completed at the end of this month. — WAM
