Vande Bharat Mission: Air India to operate 10 additional flights between India and USA

State-run airline Air India on Friday informed that 10 additional flights will be operated to and fro USA under the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission. These flights will be operated between June 20 and July 3 to bring back Indians stranded in America. Bookings for the same will open on June 13 from 6 pm onwards at the Air India website. 

The 10 additional flights comprise of 4 from and to New York and one each from and to San Francisco and Chicago. 

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Almost 2 lakh people returned

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava on Thursday, 11 June stated that the Vande Bharat Mission has repatriated a total of 1,65,375 people back to India thus far. Srivastava added that 29,034 migrant workers were also returned. The number of people repatriated will only rise in the months of June.

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During an online press briefing, Anurag Srivastava said, "Apart from Air India flights, repatriation has also been arranged through other streams like Indian naval vessels which have brought back our nationals from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Iran through foreign carriers coming to India to pick up nationals from other countries, through chartered flights and from land borders. As part of the Vande Bharat Mission, the INS Shardul has returned to Gujarat from Iran carrying 233 stranded Indian nationals.”

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