Air India will operate 70 flights between June 11 to June 30 under the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission. The flights will be operated to the United States of America and Canada to bring back Indians stranded in those countries amidst the global COVID-19 lockdown, said civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

A tweet from the minister said, “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,” he said.”

The Vande Bharat Mission was started on May 7 to bring back Indians stranded abroad amidst the COVID-19 global lockdown. Foreign nationals with valid visa could book tickets in outbound flights and Indians stranded abroad could come back on a payment basis.

LiveMint reports that under the Phase I of the mission, Air India and its subsidiary operated 64 flights and brought back 14,800 Indians from 12 countries. Phase two of the mission began from May 16

The report from LiveMint states that the mission plans to bring Indians from Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Sydney, Melbourne, Rome, Moscow, Kiev, Frankfurt, Dushanbe, Yerevan, Almaty, Astana, Lagos, Bishkek, Washington, Birmingham, Minsk, and Narita, among others.