An Air India flight carrying 241 Indians from Ukraine landed at the Delhi airport on Tuesday night, amid the escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
The flight AI 1946 from Ukraine landed at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 11.40 pm. The carrier departed from Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv at around 6 pm (Indian Standard Time).
In a tweet at about 9.46 pm, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said around 250 Indians and students from various states were returning from Ukraine to Delhi.
“More flights in the coming days to help Indians return,” he said.
Meanwhile, full-service carrier Vistara’s CEO Vinod Kannan on Tuesday said Vistara has no plans to operate flights to Ukraine.
“At this time, we are not planning flights to Ukraine because of aircraft limitations and other reasons,” PTI quoted him as saying.
Earlier on 17 February, the civil aviation ministry urged the Indian carriers to look at the possibility of operating flights to Ukraine due to the high demand.
Following this, the ministry had lifted all the curbs on number of flights that can be operated between India and Ukraine under the bilateral air bubble arrangement to facilitate the travel of Indians from that country.
Indian embassy in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, however, made yet again advisory to students urging them to temporarily leave the country rather than wait for an official confirmation from universities.
“The embassy of India is receiving a large number of calls asking about the confirmation of online classes by Medical Universities. In this regard, as informed earlier, the embassy is engaged with respective authorities for streamlining of the education process for Indian students,” the embassy said.
“Students are advised, in the interest of their safety, to leave Ukraine temporarily, rather than wait for an official confirmation from universities,” the embassy added.
