Lok Sabha Question No. 762 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-17
Subject: Vande Bharat Mission
Ministry: CIVIL AVIATION
Asked by: Kani K. Navas, Anto  Antony

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. : 762 (To be answered on the September 2020) 17th

## VANDE BHARAT MISSION

762.

SHRI K NAVASKANI SHRI ANTO ANTONY

Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

## ANSWER

Minister of State (IC) in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION

(Shri Hardeep Singh Puri)

operated by Indian carriers and chartered flights operated by both Indian

be pleased to state:-

- evacuated from various countries by Air India and other airlines $0 far under Vande Bharat Mission (VBM);
- number of flights operated, airline-wise and the name of the country from which evacuation has taken place so far;
- (c) whether the Government has received any complaints about the price of air tickets under VBM Flights;
- (d) if s0, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereto;
- (e) whether the evacuation process have been completed;
- if $0, the details thereof and if not; the reasons therefor;
- (g) whether the Government has any details regarding number of Air India staff including pilots and cabin crews affected corona virus during operations; and
- (h) if sO, the details thereof?

and foreign carriers: As per information provided by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA); till 31.08.2020, more than 11 lakh Indians (excluding land border crossings) have returned to India under the Vande Bharat Mission:

As per information provided by the Ministry 0f External Affairs (MEA), till 31.08.2020, a total of 5817 inbound flights have been operated under the Vande Bharat Mission: Out of these, 2292 flights have been operated by Air India Group and 1938 flights by Private Indian carriers while the remaining countries from which evacuation has taken place till 31.08.2020 are available in Annexure.

- (c) & (d): There were initially some complaints regarding high airfares in VBM flights in some sectors; The aircraft were travelling empty (ferry) on the outbound and fares were high as the cost of operations had to be recovered from the one-way load. Also, the COVID situation has added to the cost of operations towards PPE new guidelines for ground handling; sanitizers; etc. However, these fares were substantially lower than fares charged by some of the competitor airlines. With the establishment of Air Bubble arrangements with various countries, the fares have come down and reflect market conditions. leg kits,
- (e) & (f: The number of persons awaiting repatriation is dynamic and the number %f special repatriation flights is planned accordingly: As India enters into Air Bubble arrangements with different countries; the Vande Bharat Mission subsumed into this new arrangement: gets
- (g) & (h): As on 10.09.2020, the total number of Air India group staff including pilots end cabin crews found affected with corona virus during operations are 829 All affected pilots and cabin crew have since recovered.

| Airline-wise details (Till 31.08.2020)   | Airline-wise details (Till 31.08.2020)   |
|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| Airline                                  | No- of flights                           |
| Air India                                | 1184                                     |
| Air India Express                        | 1108                                     |
| Air India Group Total                    | 2292                                     |
| GoAir                                    | 387                                      |
| Indigo                                   | 1014                                     |
| Spicejet                                 | 528                                      |
| Vistara                                  | 9                                        |
| Private Carriers Total                   | 1938                                     |

| GOUNTRY No   | GOUNTRY No       | GOUNTRY No   |
|--------------|------------------|--------------|
|              | AFGHANISTAN      | 902          |
| 2.           | ALGERIA          | 649          |
| 3.           | ANGOLA           | 531          |
| 4 .          | ARMENIA          | 720          |
| 5.           | AUSTRALIA        | 7110         |
| 6.           | AZERBAIJAN       | 186          |
| 7 .          | BAHRAIN          | 22769        |
| 8            | BANGLADESH       | 5019         |
| 9 10.        | BARBADOS BELARUS | 115 225      |
| 11,          | BELGIUM          | 287          |
| 12_          | BHUTAN           | 85           |
| 13.          | BRAZIL           | 510          |
| 14.          | BRUNEI           | 272          |
| 15.          | BULGARIA         | 499          |
| 16.          | CAMBODIA         | 289          |
| 17.          | CANADA           | 11384        |
| 18.          | CHINA            | 513          |
| 19.          | DENMARK          | 52           |
| 20.          | DJIBOUTI         | 233          |
| 21 _         | EGYPT            | 1890         |
| 22.          | ETHIOPIA         | 6101         |
| 23.          | FIJI             | 5            |
| 24.          | FINLAND          | 219          |
| 25.          | FRANCE           | 12385        |
| 26.          | GEORGIA          | 862          |
| 27 _         | GERMANY          | 14108        |
| 28,          | GHANA            | 302          |

| 29   | GREECE       | 163    |
|------|--------------|--------|
| 30.  | HONG KONG    | 762    |
| 31_  | INDONESIA    | 2585   |
| 32   | IRAN         | 3113   |
| 33   | IRAQ         | 6661   |
| 34.  | IRELAND      | 485    |
| 35.  | ISRAEL       | 438    |
| 36.  | ITALY        | 2957   |
| 37 . | JAPAN        | 2699   |
| 38.  | JORDAN       | 400    |
| 39.  | KAZAKHSTAN   | 3685   |
| 40.  | KENYA        | 1124   |
| 41.  | KUWAIT       | 84153  |
| 42   | KYRGYZSTAN   | 11142  |
| 43.  | LAOS         | 427    |
| 44.  | LATVIA       | 5      |
| 45.  | LEBANON      | 893    |
| 46_  | MADAGASCAR   | 84     |
| 47 . | MALAYSIA     | 11464  |
| 48.  | MALDIVES     | 6747   |
| 49.  | MALTA        | 102    |
| 50.  | MAURITIUS    | 900    |
| 51.  | MEXICO       | 228    |
| 52_  | MOLDOVA      | 243    |
| 53.  | MONGOLIA     | 17     |
| 54.  | MYANMAR      | 659    |
| 55.  | NEPAL        | 332    |
| 56.  | NETHERLANDS  | 3330   |
| 57 . | NEW ZEALAND  | 1835   |
| 58.  | NIGERIA      | 4398   |
| 59.  | NORWAY       | 267    |
| 60.  | OMAN         | 75367  |
| 61.  | PAKISTAN     | 671    |
| 62.  | PHILIPPINES  | 7017   |
| 63   | POLAND       | 336    |
| 64.  | PORTUGAL     | 54     |
| 65.  | QATAR        | 95652  |
| 66.  | ROMANIA      | 8      |
| 67 . | RUSSIA       | 8471   |
| 68_  | SAUDI ARABIA | 138459 |
| 69.  | SCOTLAND     | 35     |
| 70_  | SEYCHELLES   | 864    |
| 71.  | SINGAPORE    | 20195  |
| 72.  | SOUTH AFRICA | 1161   |
| 73.  | SOUTH KOREA  |        |
| 74.  | SPAIN        | 1117   |
| 75,  | SRI LANKA    | 7208   |
| 77 . |              |        |
|      | SWEDEN       | 1270   |

| 78.   | SWITZERLAND              |      7 |
|-------|--------------------------|--------|
| 79.   | SYRIA                    |     12 |
| 80.   | TAIWAN                   |    108 |
| 81 _  | TAJIKISTAN               |   1374 |
| 82.   | TANZANIA                 |   1640 |
| 83.   | THAILAND                 |   1824 |
| 84.   | TUNISIA                  |     25 |
|       | TURKEY                   |   1102 |
| 86.   | TURKMENISTAN             |     38 |
| 87_   | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES     | 394950 |
| 88.   | UNITED KINGDOM           |  32645 |
| 89_   | UKRAINE                  |   8205 |
| 90_   | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |  66692 |
| 91.   | UZBEKISTAN               |    636 |
| 92.   | VIETNAM                  |    648 |
| 93.   | YEMEN                    |     76 |
| 94.   | ZIMBABWE                 |      5 |
| 95.   | OTHERS                   |   1299 |