More than 3,000 British travellers currently stranded in India will get home on an additional 12 charter flights which have opened for bookings.
This follows seven charter flights, already launched, from Goa, Mumbai and New Delhi (8th-12th April) and will take the total number of people brought back on these 19 flights to around 5,000.
The first charter flight from India arrived at London Stansted on Thursday morning, bringing back 317 from Goa.
The Foreign Office’s Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon said: "We are doing all we can to get thousands of British travellers in India home. This is a huge and complex operation which also involves working with the Indian Government to enable people to move within India to get on these flights.
"More than 300 people arrived from Goa on Thursday morning, 1,400 more will arrive over the Easter weekend and these 12 flights next week will bring back thousands more."
The following flights to the UK are scheduled for the next two weeks and British travellers should visit the India Travel Advice pages for further information and to reserve seats:
- Goa - UK: 14, 16 April
- Goa (via Mumbai) -UK: 18 April
- Amritsar - UK: 13, 17, 19 April
- Ahmedabad-UK: 13, 15 April
- Hyderabad (via Ahmedabad) - UK: 17 April
- Chennai (via Bengaluru) - UK: 20 April
- Kolkata (via Delhi) UK: 19 April
- Thiruvananthapuram (via Kochi) - UK: 15 April
The UK Government is working with the airline industry and host governments across the world to help bring back British travellers to the UK as part of the plan announced by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab last week (30 March) - with up to £75 million available for special charter flights to priority countries, focused on helping the most vulnerable travellers. So far, charter flights have returned British travellers from the Philippines, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nepal, Ghana, Tunisia, Algeria and Peru.
India, as well as South Africa and Peru, is a priority country for the FCO to arrange charter flights from, with a large number of Britons seeking to return and a lack of commercial options - made more challenging by the size of the country and the restrictions on movement that are in place.
Background
The charter flights are for UK travellers who normally reside in the UK and their direct dependants. A number of seats will be reserved for those deemed vulnerable.
To book flights and register their details, British nationals should visit the India Travel Advice page and use the city-specific webpages:
- Goa - UK: 14, 16, 18 April (18 April is a Goa-Mumbai-UK flight)
- Amritsar - UK: 13, 17, 19 April
- Ahmedabad - UK: 13, 15 April
- Hyderabad (via Ahmedabad) - UK: 17 April
- Chennai (via Bengaluru) - UK: 20 April
- Kolkata (via Delhi) - UK: 19 April
- Thiruvananthapuram (via Kochi) - UK: 15 April
Movement within India is currently very restricted. The British High Commission will contact those who have confirmed seats on the flight with further details regarding transport.
Those who are eligible to fly will be sent information on getting to airports and flight itineraries directly when their seat is confirmed.
Details regarding luggage allowance, flight costs and carriers will be available on the booking portal.