Air India operates special flight to take back 300 Israelis home

PTI, Mar 27, 2020, 8:59 AM IST

New Delhi: Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Air India on Thursday, March 26 sent a special flight from Delhi to Tel Aviv to carry around 300 Israelis home.

According to a senior official of the airline, a Boeing 777 aircraft departed from Delhi around 4 pm and is expected to land at Tel Aviv around 7.30 pm (local time).

During the last few weeks, Air India has conducted various special flights to bring back Indians from different cities of the world such as Wuhan in China and Rome in Italy amid the pandemic.

India is on lockdown from March 25 to April 15 to curb the spread of the virus. Consequently, domestic and international flights have been suspended too.

However, cargo flights, special flights conducted with the approval of aviation regulator DGCA, offshore helicopter operations and medical evacuation flight operations have been exempted from the flight ban imposed in India.

According to the Union health ministry, 694 people have tested positive for the coronavirus and 16 people have died due to it.