Air India To Operate 1st Flight to Wuhan Under Vande Bharat Mission Today

Indian national carrier, Air India will operate its first Vande Bharat Mission flight to China’s Wuhan today. It is expected to take off from Delhi at 8 pm IST with about 280 passengers.

The Indian embassy in their earlier announcement has confirmed that Air India would operate a Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) flight from Delhi-Wuhan sector on Oct 30. This will be the first flight to the Chinese city where corona virus emerged last December. The Wuhan administration in June decalared the city safe from virus in June and has lifted all the curbs since then.

The flight is the sixth VBM flight by Air India to China which was started to rescue Indians that were stranded in both countries after the international air space was locked down as the virus spread outside China’s Wuhan.

The flight to Wuhan was first announced after the cancellation of Delhi-Guangzhou flight on Oct 23. Later it was postponed to Oct 30 and the destination was changed from Guangzhou to Wuhan, according to the Indian Embassy release.

The passengers who will travel from India or China will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine in designated hotels. For any query, travelers are asked to mail to helpdesk (helpdesk.beijing@mea.gov.in) for guidance and assistance.

Indian air carrier in February had operated three such repatriation flights to Wuhan, when Covid virus was on its peak.