New Delhi, The Centre on Wednesday said that under the Lifeline Udan initiative, 161 flights have transported around 240 tonnes of medical supplies across the country till April 7.
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation said that these flights are being operated to transport essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India’s war against Covid-19.
Accordingly, these flights are being operated by Air India, Alliance Air, Indian Air Force and other private carriers.
“Lifeline Udan flights transported 39.3 tonnes of medical supplies across the country on April 7. Total cargo transported by these flights during the Covid-19 induced lockdown is around 240 tonnes. A total of 161 flights have been operated under the Lifeline Udan initiative till date, covering 1,41,080 km,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Out of these, 99 flights were operated by Air India and Alliance Air while 54 were operated by IAF. On international route, on April 7, Air India brought 6.14 tonnes of medical equipment from Hong Kong and lifted 8.85 tonnes of supplies to Colombo,” the statement added.
Besides Air India, Blue Dart, SpiceJet and IndiGo are also operating cargo flights on commercial basis.
On its part, SpiceJet operated 203 cargo flights from March 24 to April 7. Out of these, 55 were international cargo flights.
Similarly, Blue Dart operated 64 domestic cargo flights from March 25 to April 7. Budget airline IndiGo has operated 8 cargo flights on March 3-4 carrying 3 .14 tonnes of cargo.
The Lifeline Udan flights connect hubs in locations such as Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Aizwal, Dimapur, Imphal, Coimbatore, Thiruvanthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Port Blair and Goa. Special focus has been given to the northeast region, island territories and the hill states.
Air India has collaborated closely with the IAF for last-mile deliveries to Ladakh, Kargil, Dimapur, Imphal, Guwahati, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Patna, Jorhat, Lengpui, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Jammu, Srinagar, Chandigarh and Port Blair.
As part of India’s war against Covid-19, the Civil Aviation Ministry had launched Lifeline Udan flights on March 26 for movement of medical and essential supplies across the country and beyond.
At present, no foreign or domestic passenger flight operations are allowed in the country.
