Air India to Operate Special Flights to London to Repatriate Canadians Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

Air India is planning to conduct three special flights to London from April 8-10 to repatriate Canadians who are stranded in India amid a 21-day lockdown imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic, senior airline officials said on Monday.

Once the Air India flights drop them in London, the Canadian government will arrange flights to take them to Canada.

The national carrier has signed a contract with the Canadian government to repatriate its citizens amid the 21-day lockdown till April 14.

"One flight on Delhi-London route will take place on April 8. Another one would take place on April 10," said senior airlines officials.

Another flight on the Mumbai-London route will take place on April 9, an official said.

All three special flights to take Canadians from India to London's Heathrow airport will be conducted using B777 wide-body aircraft, they added.

Apart from Canada, Air India has also signed contracts with Germany, France and Ireland to repatriate their citizens from India through special flights.

Till now, more than 4000 people have been infected and 100 plus people have died in India due to the novel coronavirus.

During the last few weeks, Air India has conducted multiple special flights to bring stranded Indians to the country from virus-affected cities such as Wuhan in China and Rome in Italy.

It has also conducted multiple special flights during the last few weeks to take stranded foreigners in India to their respective countries such as Israel and Germany.

Since the lockdown was imposed, the national carrier has conducted multiple flights across India to transport essential cargo such has coronavirus testing kits, medicines and food.

The civil aviation sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, Air Deccan became the latest casualty of the crisis as it announced an indefinite suspension of flight operations and asked all employees to go on sabbatical without pay.

Air India has already announced a 10 per cent cut in allowances for every employee, except cabin crew, for the coming three months. Other airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir have also cut the salaries of their employees.