Ukraine crisis: SpiceJet sends plane to Slovakia to evacuate stranded Indians

PTI, Mar 1, 2022, 4:32 PM IST

New Delhi: SpiceJet on Tuesday afternoon sent a plane to Kosice in Slovakia to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive.

Slovakia shares land border with Ukraine on the western side.

Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju is travelling on SpiceJet’s special flight to Slovakia as a Special Envoy of the Indian Government to oversee the evacuation, SpiceJet said in a statement.

”The aircraft will fly to Kosice in Slovakia from Delhi and the return flight will operate via Kutaisi, Georgia,” it said.

The Kosice flight depart from Delhi at 4 pm on Tuesday, the airline said. Ukrainian airspace has been shut down since February 24 for civil aircraft operations and therefore, India is operating evacuation flights to neighbouring countries such as Romania, Slovakia and Hungary to evacuate its stranded citizens. The Kosice flight is the second evacuation flight being operated by SpiceJet under ‘Operation Ganga’ after a special flight left on Monday night for Hungarian capital Budapest from Delhi.