Heena Sharma Blog

India has evacuated over 30,000 stranded Indians on 158 flights from different countries under Vande Bharat Mission till Monday, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The minister announced that another 49,000 people will be repatriated till mid-June. "Mission Vande Bharat flies high. Till May 25, more than 30,000 people have returned to India on 158 flights from different countries and more than 10,000 people have flown out of India on 164 flights. Another 49,000 people will be able to fly until mid-June 2020," Puri tweeted on Tuesday. Read More

IndiGo closed all its bookings till May 31, shortly after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Sunday prevented all airlines from taking bookings till a final decision on lifting or easing restrictions on resuming air travel is announced. “It is brought to the notice of all concerned that no decision to commence flights on May 4 has been taken. All airlines are directed to refrain from booking tickets,” the DGCA order said. A formal ban on forward bookings from the aviation regulator came after a tweet from Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. It was only government-owned Air India which closed bookings after the minister’s tweet, while private airline executives said it was mere “advisory” and not a “binding order”. Read More