Government to rope in private airlines for repatriation exercise

NEW DELHI : The Indian government will rope in private airlines to evacuate stranded Indian citizens from various countries in the Middle East region under the government’s flagship Vande Bharat Mission, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The government recently met private airline representatives to discuss the possibility of such evacuation missions, said the first person mentioned above, requesting anonymity.

All major airlines including IndiGo, GoAir, SpiceJet, and Vistara have offered their services to the government to carry out repatriation flights.