By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: ‘Lifeline Udan’ flights are being operated by MoCA to transport essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India’s war against COVID-19. 274 flights have been operated under Lifeline Udan by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private carriers.175 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air. Cargo transported till date is around 463.15 tons. Aerial distance covered by Lifeline Udan flights till date is over 2,73,275km. Helicopter services including Pawan Hans Ltdhave been operating in J&K, Ladakh, Islands and North East region transporting critical medical cargo and patients.
Domestic Lifeline Udan flights operate in a hub and spoke model. Cargo hubs have been established at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Guwahati. Lifeline Udan flights connect these hubs to airports(Spokes) 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.
Domestic Cargo Operators SpiceJet, Blue Dart and Indigo are operating cargo flights on a commercial basis. Spicejet operated 393 cargo flights during 24 March to 17 April 2020 covering a distance of 5,64,691 km and carrying 3183 tons of cargo. Out of these 126 were international cargo flights. Blue Dart operated 134 domestic cargo flights covering a distance of 1,32,295 km and carrying 2122 tons of cargo during 25 March to 17 April 2020. Indigo has operated 29 cargo flights during 3-17 April 2020 covering a distance of 26,698 km and carrying around 31tons of cargo. This also includes medical supplies carried free of cost for the government.
Air India operated its second flight between Mumbai and Frankfurt on 15 April 2020 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 had operated first Krishi Udan flight between Mumbai and London on 13 April carrying 28.95 tons of fruits and vegetables to London and returned with15.6 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 15 April 2020 between Delhi-Seychelles-Mauritius-Delhi, carrying 3.4 tons to Seychelles and 12.6 tons to Mauritius of medical supplies.
