IndiGo and SpiceJet will be operating flights to Romania and Hungary to bring back Indian nationals who have been able to flee Ukraine and enter these countries.
The move announced by the two airlines follows a request from the government last week to all airlines to mount flights to countries with a land border with Ukraine.
IndiGo will mount a flight each to Bucharest, Romania and Budapest, Hungary on Monday.
SpiceJet will also send a flight on Monday evening to Budapest.
The three flights will return to New Delhi on Tuesday.
Interestingly, neither IndiGo nor SpiceJet has planes that are capable of doing direct flights to these countries and, therefore, will be adding a stop en route.
IndiGo will use an Airbus A321 aircraft to both the countries via Istanbul, while SpiceJet will use a Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane and stop at Kutaisi in Georgia on its way back.
Air India Express too joined Operation Ganga and sent a flight at 1.50 p.m. to Bucharest from Mumbai.
Air India Express will use its Boeing 737-800 NG and will stop at Kuwait for refuelling.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said 1,156 Indians had returned from Ukraine so far and that it had revised its travel advisory to provide exemptions to evacuees such as mandatory pre-boarding negative RTPCR test and vaccination certificate and uploading of documents before departure on Air Suvidha portal. Passengers could submit their samples on arrival at an airport in India.
