India has decided to operate additional Air India non-scheduled commercial flights in the ongoing second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, from the United States to various cities in India, the Indian Embassy here said.
According to the Embassy, 11 flights will operate in the ongoing second phase of operations from May 28 to June 15 to evacuate Indians from various parts of the US.
Out of 11 flights, four will operate from Chicago, two each from San Francisco, Washington DC and New York and one from Newark.
Since the number of seats on the flights would be limited, the Embassy said that priority will be given to compelling cases and those Indian nationals and OCI cardholders registered.
Meanwhile, the Embassy has already begun planning for the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission which will commence from June 15 in the US.
India had launched the largest evacuation exercise to repatriate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus-induced lockdown. The second phase started on May 16.
Till May 25, more than 30,000 people have returned to India on 158 flights from different countries and more than 10,000 people have flown out of India on 164 flights, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.
The minister said that another 49,000 people will be able to fly till mid-June.
( With inputs from ANI )