Air India to start eight flights between India and Australia — four each to and from Sydney and Melbourne, respectively — starting July 1, under the fourth phase of the ongoing Vande Bharat Mission. By Tanvi Jain
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National carrier Air India will be operating eight new flights between India and Australia from July 1, under the ongoing Vande Bharat Mission, reportedly four each to and from Sydney and Melbourne, between July 1 and July 14. “#FlyAI: For the kind information of our passengers; Eight evacuation flights will operate between India and Australia under #VBM from 1st July to 14th July. 4 each to/from Sydney & Melbourne. Bookings will open only on Air India website on 28th June from 1200 hrs IST,” the airline said in a tweet.
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The mission that started in May to bring back Indians stranded abroad, and fly foreigners stuck in India back to their homelands, is all set for its fourth phase now and has successfully managed to airlift thousands of people, both domestically as well as internationally. “More than 150K people have returned on VBM flights & 55K have flown out of India. With Phase-4 of the mission all set to soar, these numbers will increase significantly. More Indians will be able to return home. Today 4,784 people returned to India from different countries,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently tweeted.
Meanwhile, as per reports, the bookings for flights from Australia took place at such a fast pace, that all the tickets were sold out within just three hours, of resumption on June 28.
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Moreover, under the fourth phase of Vande Bharat Mission, Air India is scheduled to operate as many as 170 flights to and from 17 different countries, reportedly, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Japan, Ukraine, Vietnam, Canada, US, UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Australia and Myanmar, between July 3 and July 15.
Apart from Air India, the fourth phase of Vande Bharat Mission will also witness the participation of some IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet international flights as well.
Related: Here’s All You Need To Know About Repatriation Flights Operating Under The Vande Bharat Mission