India is getting ready to start operating 64 repatriation flights over from May 7 to May 13 to bring back close to 14,800 of its citizens from across the globe.
The flights will be operated from 10 states including Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala. Among the routes being considered include Doha Thiruvanthapuram, San Francisco-Delhi-Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur-Kochi, London-Chennai, Kuala Lumpur-Chennai, Washington-Delhi-Hyderabad, Kuwait-Kochi, Muscat-Kochi, London-Bengaluru, and Dubai-Chennai.
To begin with the country to which the flight is being operated has to agree to accept the flight. So if the flight is being operated to Dubai then the UAE authorities have to accept, or if it is being operated to San Francisco, then the US authorities have to be ready to accept the flights.
Aircraft
Once the acceptance comes, then comes the task of finding the right aircraft--- which will not only be able to fly to the destination, but also fly back, has to be found.
While a single-aisle aircraft like a Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 aircraft can fly from India to West Asia. A larger aircraft like a Boeing 777 is required for flights to the United States. For flights to most points in Europe and Australia , a Boeing 787 can be used for the flights.
Crew
The next thing which has be ensured is that there are enough cockpit and cabin crew to operate these flights. Since these all will be return flights, more crew sets will be needed than the number required for operating these flights in normal times.
For instance, while two sets of pilots or four pilots are good enough to operate a India-Chicago flight during normal times, now with these being return flights four sets or eight pilots will be needed for each India-Chicago or India-New York flight. The same is the case for cabin crew for such these repatriation flights.
In the case of operations with narrow body aircraft which will probably be used for flights to West and East Asia, two sets of pilots or four pilots will be required---- one set will fly the aircraft from India to its destination and another set will get the aircraft back.
Logistics and requirements
In addition, for flights to Manila, to which Air India nor any other Indian carrier has regular flights, the logistics is a little more complex as the airline operating the flight will have to carry its own security/commercial staff and hire local handling agencies in Manila.
On long haul flights to Europe and the United States, some additional food packets, snacks and water will have to be taken as these flights will be 9 to 16 hours long one-way.
In addition, flight rights to fly over various countries which the aircraft will pass during its journey to and from India, will also have to be obtained.
On Tuesday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced that passengers to be charged on repatriation flights -Rs 50,000 per passenger for London-Delhi flight, Rs 12,000 for Dhaka-Delhi flight, adding that from May 7 to May 13, Air India will conduct repatriation flights and private airlines may join evacuation effort after that.
Passengers wanting to board the flights will have to register with the Indian mission in their countries, be screened by a doctor, and only then they will be eligible to board the flight.