Evacuations by India related to the COVID-19 pandemic

SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China in mid-December 2019, when a group of people developed a pneumonia without clear causes, and existing treatments were found to be ineffective. The coronavirus has similar characteristics to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), with the resulting disease being named COVID-19. Within a number of weeks, several thousand people in Hubei's provincial capital of Wuhan were infected, and the Chinese central government imposed strict containment measures, including a lockdown of Hubei itself.

As the virus spread worldwide, more countries also instilled their own lockdowns and put travel restrictions into place. In response, many nations evacuated their citizens as well as other nationals to transport them home. India was no exception: to control the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, all visas were suspended from 13 March[1] and international flights were suspended nine days later from 22 March.[2] India had started a national lockdown on 25 March, which restricted the freedom of movement of people in the country.

The Indian diaspora is the largest in the world, with the UN estimating their size at 17.5 million in 2019.[3] The Ministry of External Affairs has higher figures, with the number of Non-resident Indians or NRIs (Indian citizens who do not live in the country on a regular-enough basis to pay income tax) alone being over 13 million.[4] In addition, India also has a substantial population of internal migrant workers, with Reuters estimating that there are 100 million such workers.[5]

India has conducted several large-scale evacuations in modern times, particularly in the Middle East where there is a high concentration of Indians and several conflicts in recent history.[6] The 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait has been recognized as the world's largest civilian airlift, with over 110,000 people evacuated.[7] Domestically, Operation Rahat, which the Indian Air Force claimed was the biggest civilian helicopter evacuation ever,[8] airlifted over 19,600 people from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh during the 2013 North India floods.[9]

After the lockdown in Hubei, the government owned flag carrier Air India flew to Wuhan to evacuate Indian citizens, particularly students, stranded there. As cases spiked in Italy and Iran, the latter country of which some pilgrims had been stuck in, efforts were shifted to evacuate Indians from Milan (where Air India already flew before the pandemic) and Iranian cities. These flights were free for passengers.[10]

Departure date	Evacuees	Nationalities[lower-alpha 1]	Departure airport	Arrival airport	Notes
1 February 2020	324		Wuhan Tianhe International Airport	Indira Gandhi International Airport	This was India's first evacuation flight.[11] There were three minors, 211 students and 110 working professionals, and the flight was operated by Air India.[12][13]
2 February 2020	330	323 7			This was India's second flight. All passengers were quarantined in Delhi and Manesar, Haryana.[14]
27 February 2020	111	76 23 6 2 2 1 1 1			This was the third evacuation flight sent by India to Wuhan. India also provided 15 tonnes of medical assistance comprising masks, gloves and other emergency medical equipment to China through the same Indian Air Force flight.[15][16]
27 February 2020	124	119 2 1 1 1	TokyoNarita International Airport		This flight mostly had crew members of the Diamond Princess as passengers.[17]
10 March 2020	58		Tehran（Airport unknown）	Hindon Airport	The Indian Air Force used a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft to evacuate Indian pilgrims from Iran.[18]
11 March 2020	83	74 6 3	Milan Malpensa Airport	Indira Gandhi International Airport	The flight was operated by Air India. All the non-Indian citizens were of Indian origin. All evacuees were placed under quarantine for 14 days.[19]
15 March 2020	218			Indira Gandhi International Airport	Air India operated the flight. The evacuees brought to New Delhi will be shifted to Indo-Tibetan Border Police's camp in Chhawla area where they will be quarantined for 14 days.[20]
15 March 2020	234		（Airport unknown）	Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport	131 students and 103 pilgrims, among others, were evacuated from Iran on a Mahan Air flight organized by the Indian Embassy. They were quarantined for 14 days in Indian Army's wellness centre facility in Jaisalmer.[21][22]
16 March 2020	53		Tehran and Shiraz（Airport unknown）	Jaisalmer Airport	52 students and 1 teacher were evacuated by Air India and were then quarantined at an Army Wellness Centre in Jaisalmer.[23]
22 March 2020	263		（Airport unknown）	Indira Gandhi International Airport	Evacuated by Air India from Rome, Italy, and then were quarantined at Indo-Tibetan Border Police's camp near Delhi.[24]
29 March 2020	275		（Airport unknown）	Jodhpur Airport	After preliminary screening, they were quarantined at Army Wellness Centre Jodhpur.[25]

The Indian government initiated a massive evacuation program called "Vande Bharat Mission" on May 7, 2020.[26] This involved flights via Air India and its low-cost arm Air India Express.[27] In the first three phases of the mission, the government did not allow private airlines to participate, though they have been allowed to participate in the fourth phase onwards. The government continues to set the fare, determine the routes and decide the number of flights.[28]

Over 67,000 evacuation requests were registered by MEA by 8 May;[29] twenty days later, the number of registrations had increased to over 300,000. It was initially predicted that the total number of civilians evacuated could surpass the Kuwait airlift, with estimates ranging from 192,000 to 250,000.[30][31][6] On August 6, the MEA declared that almost 950,000 Indians were repatriated.[32]

As well as evacuating Indian nationals back to the country, certain flights will also evacuate anyone who wants to leave, provided they are a national, permanent resident, or have a visa valid for at least one year.[33] Unlike previous evacuations, passengers have to pay for their journey, with fares ranging from ₹15,000 (US$210) for the Gulf states to ₹100,000 (US$1,400) for the United States.[34]

Schedule of Vande Bharat Mission-phase 1

Phase one, which ran from 7–17 May, mostly targeted areas with high concentrations of Indians. It was predicted that this phase would feature a total of 64 flights, half of which were for the Gulf states, as well as two naval ships for Indians in the Maldives under the label "Samudra Setu" (Sea Bridge).[33][35][36] The MEA gave a higher number of 84 flights, which may have been due to counting domestic connections on the same plane as a separate flight. As of 15 May, All India Radio reported that 56 flights had been conducted.[37]

Departure date	Inbound evacuees	Outbound evacuees[lower-alpha 2]	Foreign destination	Indian destination	Notes
7 May 2020	177	—	Abu Dhabi International Airport	Cochin International Airport	First flight under the mission.[38] Three passengers on the flight to Kochi later tested positive for COVID-19.[39]
7 May 2020	177	—	Dubai International Airport	Calicut International Airport	A substantial portion of passengers were pregnant women, stranded infants, and elderly persons taken on humanitarian grounds.[40][38]
7–8 May 2020	234	0	Singapore Changi International Airport	Indira Gandhi International Airport	The flight to Delhi, AI 381, was slightly delayed. Hotels throughout Delhi were prepared to quarantine the evacuees.[41]
12 May 2020	177/179	—	Dubai International Airport	Mangalore International Airport	20 passengers later tested positive for the virus.[42]

• On 9 May, Air India flight carrying 129 passengers from Dhaka, Bangladesh landed at Delhi airport. Air India flight with 180 Indians from Sharjah reached Lucknow. Air India flight from Kuwait with 163 adults and four infants landed in Hyderabad with 163 nationals on board. Also 177 Indians from Kuala Lampur reach Trichy in Tamil Nadu. second flight from Singapore, landed at Mumbai with 243 Indians. 180 Indian nationals including three children from Dubai arrived at Chennai.[43]
• On 10 May, INS Jalashwa, with 700 Indian nationals from the Maldives arrived at the Kochi Port. This was an operation of the Indian Navy called Operation Samudra Setu.
• On 10 May, 326 Indian nationals from London, landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai. 177 passengers from Kuala Lumpur landed at Kochi. 117 Indians from Kuwait landed at Chennai.[43]
• On 11 May, 323 Indians from London landed at Bangalore. 118 Indians stranded in San Francisco landed at Hyderabad. Air India flight 1387 carrying Indians from Manila arrived in Mumbai.[44][45]

This phase started on 17 May and ended on 10 June.[lower-alpha 3][46][47] The scope of evacuations was expanded to cover more European and Central Asian countries.[29] It is planned that over 30,000 Indian nationals will be brought to India through 149 flights from 40 countries in this phase.[48][49]

Departure date	Inbound evacuees	Outbound evacuees[lower-alpha 2]	Foreign destination	Indian destination	Notes
28 May 2020	230 (est.)	—	Bangladesh	Tripura Assam Meghalaya	Evacuation done over land.[50]

This phase started on June 11 with scheduling over 300 flights from 50 countries This phase is planned to include private airlines.[51][52]

The fourth phase of Vande Bharat Mission will start on July 3. This phase will be mainly focused on Gulf Countries and Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. A total of 1050 flights will be scheduled. Out of 1050 flights 750 flights will be operated by Indian-based Private airlines and rest of them will be operated by Air India Express.[53][54] Air India will start phase 4 on July 4.[55] Air India will operate additional flights from India to Europe and the United States from 22 July 2020 to 31 July 2020 under Vande Bharat Mission[56]

The 5th phase began 1 August 2020 and will last until 31 August 2020, with over 700 flights to 53 countries planned.[57][58] Air India will operate more flights to the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the UAE and more.[59][60]

Phase VI

The Phase 6 of Vande Bharat Mission has start on September 1 and India has operated a total of 1059 flights from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Canada, China , France, Germany, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, UK and USA.

One of the flights under the mission, Air India Express Flight 1344 from Dubai International Airport to Calicut International Airport, skidded off the runway and crashed into a gorge, killing 21 out of the 190 people on board.[79]

On August 26, Indians including women and children were not allowed to board the Air India flight AI-312 to Incheon (South Korea) at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (New Delhi) without prior information. More than 180 Indian passengers bought ticket to fly from India to Korea to join their families, universities and jobs.

These passengers reached Delhi airport from different cities of India. But hours before the boarding they were informed that they are not allowed to board the flight due to some approval issues with South Korea. All passengers were forced to return to their home cities.[80]