New Delhi, April 14 The Centre on Tuesday said that under the Lifeline Udan initiative, over 227 flights have transported around 407.40 tonnes of medical supplies across the country till April 13.
"Lifeline Udan flights are being operated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to transport essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India's war against Covid-19," the MoCA said in a statement.
"227 flights have been operated under the Lifeline Udan initiative by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private carriers. 138 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air. Cargo transported till date is around 407.40 tonnes," it added.
Besides Air India, Blue Dart, SpiceJet and IndiGo are also operating cargo flights on a commercial basis. On its part, SpiceJet operated 315 cargo flights from March 24 to April 13. Out of these, 100 were international cargo flights.
Similarly, Blue Dart has operated 104 domestic cargo flights from March 25 to April 13. Budget airline IndiGo has operated 25 cargo flights from April 3-13 carrying 21.77 tonnes of cargo.
The Lifeline Udan flights connect hubs in locations such as Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Aizwal, Dimapur, Imphal, Coimbatore, Thiruvanthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Port Blair and Goa.
As part of India's war against Covid-19, the Civil Aviation Ministry had launched Lifeline Udan flights on March 26 for movement of medical and essential supplies across the country and beyond.
Currently, no foreign or domestic passenger flight operations are allowed in the country.
( With inputs from IANS )