Vande Bharat mission tickets reasonable as compared to other countries: Aviation Minister

Vande Bharat initiative has been able to repatriate scores of Indians stranded in various countries across globe; however, some have raised apprehensions over cost of tickets for Vande Bharat flights. In order to clear misconceptions, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has drawn a comparison between rates of Vande Bharat flights and rates applied by or countries for same routes.

Taking to Twitter, Puri gave a tabular chart showing a comparison of charges by Vande Bharat flights from Delhi - Houston in USA, Delhi - Vancouver and Toronto in Cana, and Delhi - Israel, with rates charged by charter flights of or countries.

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Comparison of Vande Bharat rates with rates of or countries

Civil Aviation Minister clarified that rates charged by Air India's Vande Bharat flights are t rmal commercial rates, however y are clearly reasonable when compared to evacuation flights of or countries on same routes.

In a subsequent tweet, he said, travellers paid Rs 1.62 lakhs to Toronto & Rs 1.84 lakhs to Vancouver for evacuation flights organised from India by concerned embassies whereas Indian citizens are required to pay Rs 1.07 lakhs for Vande Bharat flights between India and Cana. Similarly, for travelling to Tel Aviv, travellers of or nationalities paid Rs 82,500 for ir evacuation flights organised by concerned Embassy from Delhi, whereas Indian nationals pay Rs 51,938.

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Vande Bharat Mission

Under Vande Bharat Mission, Air India group started operating flights from May 7 to repatriate stranded Indians across globe amid COVID-19 pandemic. Since beginning of operation on May 7, Air India has operated a total of 423 inbound international flights under Vande Bharat initiative, bringing close to 59,000 Indians back to country.

first phase of mission saw repatriation of Indians from over 11 countries including  UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore, and US. In second phase of mission, Indian government brought back Indians from around 31 countries from May 16. second phase was to end on May 22, however, Indian government extended it to June 13, while ding more countries to list such as Finland, South Korea, Belgium, New Zealand, Nerlands, Kenya, Mauritius, Spain, Myanmar, Egypt, and Sri Lanka. Indian government is set to begin third phase of Vande Bharat Mission, with Air India opening  bookings of seven destinations from June 5 onwards.