Vande Bharat phase 2: First flight from Dubai to land today at Vijayawada airport

Krishna (Andhra Pradesh): As part of the Vande Bharat Mission, international flights will resume their services from Wednesday onwards and the first flight from Dubai will land today at Vijayawada International Airport.

"First flight will come from Dubai at 6.10 pm on Wednesday. 65 passengers have booked seats. The load may increase due to last-minute bookings," said Vijaywada International Airport Director Madhusudan Rao.

Airport Director said as many as 490 international flights had landed at Vijayawada Airport in phase one of the Vande Bharat mission and around 55,600 passengers from different countries had landed here.
"People stranded at various countries were brought, they had landed at Vijayawada Airport and reached their places in the state. Same services will be continued in this phase also," he said.

Rao further said all arrangements have been made in this regard and they have also expanded the arrival area.

"All facilities are made for passengers' comfort. There will be 10 international services per week, however, there will be no services on Sundays," he added.

Earlier in March, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that around 50 lakh people have returned to India under Vande Bharat Mission as on March 10, 2021.

Many countries had imposed the ban on passenger flights from India in view of rising COVID-19 cases.

The Vande Bharat Mission started in early May 2020 to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus-induced travel restrictions.