India’s airlines in the Covid crises
‘Lifeline Udan’ flights were directed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for transportation of essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India’s war against COVID-19. More than 700 flights had been operated under Lifeline Udan by Air India, Alliance Air, some private carriers as of 15 May 2020, most of them by Air India and Alliance Air. Cargo transported by air totaled some 1000 tons, flown over a total distance of over 600,000 km.
Helicopter services including those by Pawan Hans operated in Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, the offshore Islands and India’s North East region, transporting critical medical supplies and also patients, plus several tons of cargo.
SpiceXpress, SpiceJet's dedicated cargo arm, transported vital surgical supplies, sanitizers, face masks, etc. to provide point to point deliveries of essential supplies, medicines and medical equipment across India.
Private carriers, including SpiceJet, Blue Dart, Indigo and Vistara operated cargo flights on a commercial basis, Spicejet making 916 cargo flights from 24 March to 8 May 2020, carrying 6,587 tons of cargo, 337 being international cargo flights. Blue Dart operated 311 cargo flights carrying 5,231 tons of cargo over the period 25 March to 8 May 2020. Of these, 16 were international cargo flights. Indigo operated 121 cargo flights carrying around 585 tons of cargo, including 46 international flights. Vistara operated 23 cargo flights during 19 April to 8 May 2020, covering a distance of 32,321 km and carrying around 150 tons of cargo.
In support of the Government’s 'Mission Lifeline UDAN' initiative, Vistara too deployed its newly-inducted Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft to transport relief material, medical supplies and essential commercial goods.
A virtual cargo air-bridge was established by Indian carriers flying to East Asia for transportation of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and Covid-19 relief material. While Air India flew 2000 tons. Blue Dart uplifted 131 tons medical supplies from Guangzhou and Shanghai and 24 tons from Hong Kong, 14 April to l 8 May 2020, while Spicejet uplifted 205 tons of medical supplies from Shanghai and Guangzhou and 21 tons medical supplies from Hong Kong and Singapore till 8 May 2020.
‘Vande Bharat’ !
(photo: Twitter @DelhiAirport)
In one of the largest initiatives to repatriate nationals back home, 11,000 Indian nationals desirous of returning were flown back to India on 43 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission from 7 May 2020. Under this mission, Ministry of Civil Aviation co-ordinated with the Ministry of External Affairs and state Governments for bringing Indians back to their homeland.
Air India along with its subsidiary Air India Express operated some 64 flights (42 by Air India and 24 by AI Express) to 12 countries including the USA, UK, Bangladesh, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Philippines, UAE and Malaysia to repatriate 14,800 Indians back in the first phase.
Meanwhile, the Navy deployed several ships from Kochi to transport Indian nationals in the Maldives back to India. INS Jalashwa, deployed for Op Samudra Setu, conducted two voyages between Kochi and Male, bringing back near 600 Indian nationals.
After INS Jalashwa berthed alongside at Cochin Port, extensive protocols were carried out by the authorities for streamlining the process of COVID screening and immigration procedures, as also transportation for the evacuated Indian nationals to respective districts for further quarantining. INS Jalashwa had embarked Indian citizens at Male on 15 May 20 as part of the Indian Government's national efforts to facilitate return of Indian citizens from foreign shores.