Covid 19 pandemic had led to cancellation of flights in many countries like Gulf nations, Singapore and Malaysia where lakhs of Indians work. Government of India announced Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indians working abroad to  motherland through special flights. Union civil aviation Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said that more than 33 lakh persons have been repatriated under Vande Bharat Mission flights.

Vande Bharat Mission was started on May 7 by Union Government to repatriate Indians stranded abroad and to transport people from other countries stranded in India due to covid 19 lockdown .  The first phase of Vande Bharat started on May 7,  lasted till May 17 with 84 services from between India and various countries like the US, UK, UAE, Philippines, Saudi Arabia , Malaysia. The second phase of Vande Bharat Mission which operated 578 services was started on May 16 and was extended till June 13. The third phase started from June 10 lasted till June 22 with more than 553 flight services from various countries like Singapore , UAE Saudi Arabia Qatar to India. The fourth phase of Vande Bharat started on July 1 with 1082 services. In Vande Bharat Mission Phase V, more than 1104 flights were operated from various destinations like Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bangkok, Colombo, Dares Salam, Riyadh to Indian cities. Air India Express operated special flights between Tiruchirapalli and Singapore. The Sixth Phase of Vande Bharat Mission started from September 1 operated almost 1290 flights and seventh phase which started on October 1 operated almost 1447 flights.  The eighth phase which started on November 1 has operated almost 1651 flights. Till now in eight phases of Vande Bharat Mission 7789 flights have been operated to repatriate Indians stranded abroad.

Air India Express will operate Trichy - Abu Dhabi flights on every Mondays and Thursdays in December. Air India Express has scheduled to operate flight services to Singapore, Dubai, Kuwait, Sharjah to Trichy under  the Vande Bharat mission in December. Air India Express will operate flights to Singapore from Trichy in December (is it eighth phase?). It will also operate flights between Dammam-Trichy  , Doha-Trichy sector.  Flights on the Trichy-Sharjah sector would be operated on Wednesdays and Sundays. In Trichy-Dubai sector, the services will be available on Mondays and Tuesdays.

As per guidelines for international travellers, passengers coming from abroad will be kept under institutional quarantine for 7 days. They shall be tested for assessed as asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic and mild cases. They will be allowed to undergo home isolation or admitted to covid care centres as per symptoms. Passengers who are having RT-PCR negative test certificate shall be exempt from quarantine and allowed to leave and undertake self monitoring.

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