It is no secret that the stoppage of commercial air travel over the past few months has left a lot of people stranded in India and also left a lot of Indians left stranded abroad. With this in mind, Air India was assigned the task of bringing back Indians from across the globe. Ideally, they are best suited for the mission given their wide-body aircraft portfolio. But Air India has been selling tickets on both legs for many flights, while the costs per seat were arrived at with the assumption that the outward leg would fly empty. There has been a great rush for Air India’s flights, especially to the USA, with flights selling out literally three minutes after opening bookings. This also has been because a minimal number of flights have been operated in the first month of the repatriation flights mission. Now, the number of Air India Evacuation flights is set to go up.
Earlier this week, the Government of India made the first indication that they will be putting out many more flights to bring back Indians home. The good thing is, the empty legs take people back to their workplaces/residences as well.
More flights being added to Mission Vande Bharat to enable stranded & distressed Indians to return home.
@airindiain will operate 70 flights to destinations in USA & Canada under Phase 3 of the Mission from 11-30 June 2020.@MEAIndia @MoCA_GoI @PIB_India
— Hardeep Singh Puri (मोदी का परिवार) (@HardeepSPuri) June 1, 2020
I yesterday wrote about how Air India was planning to go daily with their flights to the USA and back. Today, we have confirmed information about all the flights that Air India is planning to various countries for their flights. Air India will allow the following people to fly on flights:
- Citizens of that country, who have a green card or OCI card
- Indian Nationals who are holding visa of that country, with a minimum residual validity of the three months.
- In case an Indian National is having confirmed offer of employment/internship/admission in an educational institution, he/she can be allowed with visa of that country, with a minimum residual validity of one month.
Here are the flights that will be coming up to fly from India. Air India’s website says outbound bookings to the US / UK / France / Germany / Australia / Italy (Rome) / Bangladesh / Indonesia / Canada / Jordan / New Zealand / Sweden and Singapore.
Flights from India to the USA
Flights from India to Canada
Flights from India to Western Europe and the Nordics
Flights from India to Australia and New Zealand
Flights from India to Asian destinations
Air India’s Twitter tells us these flights should be up for sale from June 5, 2020, at 5 PM IST.
Also, with domestic flights now open, it should be easier for you to make it to Delhi or Mumbai to take a flight to the USA. If you don’t get a flight to your desired destination, just take one available and book a connection inside the USA. Just remember, one can fly to the USA with a remaining visa validity of 3 months only here on, not one year.
This is excellent news for people who want to fly between India and North America. I assume flights have been scaled up because North America loads are higher, and also the rest of the world can be covered with the 787s (Europe, Asia, Australia). Also, while commercial aviation is closed at the moment to international airlines, Air India will be able to ask for a price and get it, from those who are desperate to get back home from their outposts in India.
Do you think there will be enough seats available on Air India’s next round of flights to keep everyone happy?
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you are right. Air India is not doing any pious work. It has become a money making machine and Govt. deliberately not starting international flights. They know how much money they are making. Stupid US airlines are watching like monkeys.
My wife went to torronto from mumbai with confirmed return tkt of April 24,2020 since stop of international operations she is stranded there having sever knee problem and need replacement.. pls advice how to book torronto/canada to mumbai flight and date of journey…what about existing cancelled tkt??
What is the schedule for flying back US citizen with OCI card.
Pl advise as I need to return to India soonest to be with my husband having heart problem,diabetes and Blood Pressure.My husband is 80 yes old andmy age is 77 yes.
I came to USA on March 9 the with confirmed return ticket for May 5th.
Due to suspension of flights,I am now held up here in USA.
I specially came to US to attend my grand daughter’s engagement ceremony
I await your earliest favor and news for the schedule flights to Ahmedabad from Newark/.New York
As required I have already registered with Indian Embassy for approval on medical grounds as explained
Truly,
Hemlata mehta
I need to travel back to mumbai or ahmedabad as my indian wife is there with 2 teenagers I am British passport holder with Oci on my name what is the earliest flight for me to go please reply
Will air India flight ‘s open even in July
How to book a ticket from Kolkata to Heathrow ?
On line not possible .
It’s not working.
My daughter is going to join NHS with tier 2 visa .
Try the AI app. I bought a ticket to Chicago that way. The website was hopeless.
Why there is no flight to Delhi to Milan ( itely)
I want to fly from Delhi to Vancouver, BC. I checked there is Air India flight available on June 22. When I go for booking ticket, it says no flight. System is not allowing me to book ticket. Any suggestion?
Also, I read that we need to register on MoCA ( min of civil aviation). But could not find how to register. Can someone help me please
I don’t think any registration at MoCA is necessary. MoCA website just directs you to AI website.
It’s very difficult to access AI Web and help desk to book a seat. If you are successful then it shows unavailable.
On the other hand travel agents are selling tickets at premium
@Ranjit, can you send me an email with the details of any agents who are selling tickets. Thanks.
Vande Bharat Mission started as a repatriation/evacuation flight operation which has now turned into a regular commercial operation by Air India as they are mounting several flights going by the schedule. Basically a monopoly scenario. They are asking a fixed price which the customers have no choice but to pay and Air India knows people will pay as they are desperate to travel having been stuck due to lockdown. It’s similar to private hospitals charging exorbitant rates for COVID19 treatment where the fear factor plays a role.
COVID19 pandemic has given a good opportunity for many outlets to monopolise and make money from unsuspecting repressed and distressed citizens.
Absolutely right I support you 100 per cent
my mom and dad in india we want them to come to Canada they are canadian citizen
Why there is no flight to mumbai or pune from Sydney
I tried to get two business seats for me and my wife (we both are permanent residents and live in the US) from DEL to ORD, but it is always showing unavailable in Business. I tried from 5 pm to 10:30 pm. Now I feel that it was a mistake vising India on March 12th. We had return tickets to go back on March 23rd. Because of lockdown we have been trapped in India without any way to escape.
Can Canadian citizen come to India with OCI?
She is a kid travelling with parents.
Did Air India have any future plans to bring back stranded Indians from Democratic Republic of Congo ?
Why international flights not allowed to be operated by regular operaters which will reduce the burden of vande Bharat mission. This will reduce the time of evacuation of stranded people. Some areas not covered by Vande Bharat mission like Texas State in USA.
S.M.Shivashankaraiah and
Siddeswari Shivashankaraiah.
What about for the people who wants to get to Goa from London…any flights ? When are you’ll starting ?
What’s the deal with the Arogya Setu app now. Is it mandatory to enter an airport, or a self declaration form would be adequate? I am getting a lot of conflicting information.
Which web site we book the tickets for usa
Since there are no flights from SF to Mumbai, would they even considered Indian senior citizen who are in SF and need to go to Mumbai?
How will it work? – Catch a domestic flight from Del to Mumbai (and quarantine in Mumbai? Or Delhi)? Or would they allow us to board the Mumbai flight from Newark?
@Vaibhav, try for the SFO-DEL, most probably Air India should put you on a connection to Mumbai. Make it a point to ask for a SFO-BOM flight.
Thank you! Follow up question- when you say try, apart from filling out the embassy’s form, is there something else I should do? I have sent a few emails to the embassies in SF and DC – anything else you would recommend I should try?
How to fill embassy form???
Here is the link to the form (atleast for US)
https://indianembassyusa.gov.in/News?id=24959
Is an indian national with visitors visa allowed in this flight from india to usa?
@JK i had called the CBP agency in USA and they have confirmed that currently there are no travel restrictions from India and Indian nationals with valid B1 B2 visa are allowed to enter as long as the flight is a direct flight. They also mentioned that check with local airline rules for boarding the flight.
Check whitehouse.gov and check immigration tab for info.
I am also not sure what AI rules are for boarding from DEL to ORD for Indian nationals with valid visitor visa for USA.
I hope we get some more confirm information.
Is a kid of 4yrs allowed to be on that plane with his mom? The kid is an OCI card holder and mom has a valid visa.
@Gaurav Mathur. Coming to India or leaving India?
Leaving India.
@GM the kid needs to also have a visa for the USA I believe. or is he a US citizen?
He is a citizen of the USA. Having an American passport.
For US citizens (as well as possibly US permanent residents i.e. green card holders) wishing to return to the US, check out the possibility of taking an Air France or KLM repatriation flight from Mumbai on June 6th, 7th or 8th.
Use the airlines’ India-specific online sites – airfrance.in ; klm.co.in
Yesterday, I made online reservation for June 9th on Lufthansa in business class (Mubai to Cleveland via Frankfurt and Washington IAD), but Lufthansa from Delhi office called me today and said that Indian government doesn’t want to let permanent residents (green card holders) of the US to fly on Lufthansa flights and she said only US citizens are allowed on Lufthansa flights. I don’t know why Indian Government wants to trap us here. Therefore I had to cancel the reservation today. I have been traveling to India for the past 45 years and never had such rude government rules towards its own NRI citizens.
Does anyone have any information on taking a regular domestic flight to go to Delhi or Mumbai to catch one of these flights? Are there any issues that one needs to be aware of? I am guessing I will need to collect my check-in luggage in Delhi/Mumbai after the domestic flight, and then check it in again for the international flight. Also, I see the luggage allowance will be dictated by what is allowed for the domestic flight.
Is there anything else?
@Pro many a times Air India may be operating a connection as well. Check from your origin to destination. For instance, if you are trying to go BOM-ORD, put BOM-ORD and it should show you BOM-DEL-ORD. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tip Ajay. I will try that once the ticketing opens.
This is amazing. Where on airindia website is the list posted do you know?