New Delhi: The external affairs ministry of Thursday said that a total of 7,88,217 Indian nationals have returned so far from different parts of the globe under Vande Bharat Mission.
“As on 22 July, 7,88,217 Indian nationals have returned. 103976 Indians have returned from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh by land borders,”Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during weekly virtual press briefing here.
Under Phase 4 of the Vande Bharat Mission, so far a total of 1197 flights (945 international flights and 252 feeder flights) have been scheduled.
These flights are operated by the Air India Group, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir from 29 countries to 34 airports in India.
Of these, 694 flights have reached India as on 22 July 2020, repatriating nearly 1 lakh people so far.
Phase 4 is expected to continue until 2 August 2020 by which time around 80,000 more people are expected to return, he added.
Last week, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had announced establishment of bilateral bubbles with some countries.
Between 22 July - 31 August, Air India will be operating 30 flights a week to the US (New York, Chicago, Washington, New Jersey and San Francisco), 4 flights a week to Germany (Frankfurt) and 3 flights a week to France (Paris).
The ministry continues to be in touch with Missions on specific demands for repatriation from students completing their courses abroad, workers and other stranded Indians with compelling reasons, Mr Srivastava said.
