GoFirst will fly repatriation flights to Budapest to evacuate stranded Indian medical students in Ukraine under Operation Ganga.
According to top sources, “GoFirst has got permission for flights to Budapest. It will fly two flights — one each on March 3 and March 4.”
The person explained that GoFirst went through the Standard Operating Procedure and Safety Risk Assessment (SRA), and cleared both these.
GoFirst, formerly known as GoAir, operates A320s. It had to also get approvals for technical landing since the distance between India and Budapest is long. “The airline will have to take a technical stop. However, since it is a war situation, the route cannot be declared till the time permission to declare it is granted.”
Operation Ganga
So far, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India and Air India Express have been given permission to operate flights under the Operation Ganga mission.
According to reports, there are over 20,000 Indian stranded in Ukraine. The Indian embassy in Ukraine has been instrumental in escorting students to the nearest checkpoints from where students can return to India.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday said out of an estimated 20,000 Indian citizens in Ukraine, 60 per cent have left the country since the first advisory was issued by the government.
“We had an estimated 20,000 Indian nationals in Ukraine at the time we issued our first advisory. Approximately 12,000 have left Ukraine so far, which means 60 per cent of the people have left the country. Of the remaining 40 per cent, roughly half remain in the conflict zone in Kharkiv and the other half have either reached the western border of Ukraine or are heading towards the western border. They are generally out of conflict areas,” Shringla said.
He said, over the next three days, 26 flights have been scheduled to bring out Indian citizens apart from Bucharest and Budapest.