New Delhi (NVI): Under ‘Lifeline Udan’, 274 flights have been operated by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and other private carriers to transport essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India’s war against COVID-19.
These flights commenced on March 26, 2020, and are being operated by Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). 175 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air.
Cargo transported by Lifeline Udan till date is around 463.15 tons and the aerial distance covered by these flights is over 2,73,275km.
Meanwhile, helicopter services including Pawan Hans Ltd have been operating in J&K, Ladakh and North East region transporting critical medical cargo and patients.
Cargo hubs have been established at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Guwahati.
Lifeline Udan flights connect these cargo hubs to airports at Dibrugarh, Agartala, Aizwal, Dimapur, Imphal, Jorhat, Lengpui, Mysuru, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Port Blair, Patna, Cochin, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad, Jammu, Kargil, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Goa, Bhopal and Pune.
Special focus has been on the North-East Region, island territories and the hill states. Air India and IAF collaborated primarily for J&K, Ladakh, North-East and other island regions.
In additon to this, Domestic Cargo Operators like SpiceJet, Blue Dart and Indigo are operating cargo flights on a commercial basis. Out of these 126 were international cargo flights.
In the International scenario – an air-bridge has been established with effect from April 4, 2020 for transportation of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and Covid-19 relief material.
Air India operated its second flight between Mumbai and Frankfurt on April 15 under the Krishi Udan program, carrying 27 tons of seasonal fruits and vegetables to Frankfurt and returned with 10 tons of general cargo.
Air India has also operated the first Krishi Udan flight between Mumbai and London on April 13 carrying 28.95 tons of fruits and vegetables to London and returned with 15.6 tons of general cargo material.
Air India will operate dedicated scheduled cargo flights to other countries for transfer of critical medical supplies, as per the requirement. Air India operated first such flight on April 15 between Delhi-Seychelles-Mauritius-Delhi, carrying 3.4 tons to Seychelles and 12.6 tons to Mauritius of medical supplies.
