Vande Bharat Mission 2.0: First flight from Dubai to land at Vijayawada airport

The first flight from Dubai under the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission will land at Vijayawada International Airport on Wednesday evening.

"First flight will come from Dubai at 6:10 pm on Wednesday. 65 passengers have booked seats. The load may increase due to last-minute bookings," Vijayawada International Airport Director Madhusudan Rao told news agency ANI.

In the first phase of Vande Bharat Mission, 490 international flights had landed at the Vijaywada airport, bringing over 55,000 passengers from different countries, Rao said.

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"People stranded at various airports were brought, they had landed at Vijayawada airport and reached their places in the state. Same services will be continued in this phase also," he added.

Rao said there will be 10 international services per week under the second phase, with no flights on Sunday. He said all arrangement have been made for passengers and the arrival area has been expanded.

Vande Bharat Mission is a programme by the Indian government to repatriate Indian nationals from around the world amidst the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Till March 2021, over 67.5 lakh Indians were brought back from abroad.

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