Russia-Ukriane Crisis: A Look At The Key Evacuation Programmes Carried Out By Air India

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: The two Air India flights will leave Bucharest on Saturday, according to officials. 

Representational Image. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Air India plans to fly two aircraft to Bucharest, Romania, on Friday to rescue Indians stranded in Ukraineas Russian forces moved deep into the east European country on the second day of the invasion.

Indian nationals who have crossed the Ukraine-Romania border would be escorted to Bucharest by Indian government officials in order for them to be evacuated on the two Air India planes, PTI quoted government officials as saying.

Following the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government has closed its airspace. On Friday, the Indian government said that it was planning on evacuating Indians through land borders with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.

The two Air India flights will depart from Bucharest on Saturday, according to officials. 

Be it China or war-torn Libya, Air India, over the decades, has been the key airline when it comes to evacuating Indians from foreign countries during times of conflict.

Following are some of the key evacuation programmes carried out by Air India since 1994:

• May 1994 -- Special flights were operated from Mumbai to Yemen's capital Sanaa via Muscat to evacuate Indians stranded in strife-torn Yemen
• September 1996 -- The airline embarked on 'Operation Amnesty Airlift' to bring back Indians who did not have valid permits from the United Arab Emirates
• October 1997 -- It evacuated stranded Indians who were compelled to leave Saudi Arabia before the amnesty deadline expired
• July 2006 -- Brought back Indians from Lebanon via Larnaca in Cyprus
• March 2011 -- Operated special flights to evacuate 11,345 stranded Indians from Cairo, following political turmoil in Egypt.
• August 2014 -- Flights were operated to Djerba in Tunisia to evacuate more than 1,200 stranded Indians from Libya and Malta.
• April 2015 -- Operated flights to evacuate Indians and other nationals stranded at Yemen's capital Sanaa
• January & February 2020 -- In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the airline operated flights to evacuate Indians stranded at Wuhan in China.
• May 2020 -- The airline is operating flights under Vande Bharat Mission since May 7.

The airline also holds the record for carrying out the largest evacuation of people by a civil airliner, which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The award was given for its evacuation of over 1 lakh individuals from Kuwait during Iraq's invasion on the nation in 1990.

(With PTI Inputs)