IndiGo evacuated 7,629 Indian citizens under Operation Ganga: Official
Mar 17, 2022
New Delhi [India], March 17 : IndiGo operated the largest number of flights among the private airlines and evacuated 7,629 Indian citizens from Ukraine under 'Operation Ganga', a senior company official told ANI.
Chief Commercial Officer of IndiGo Willy Boulter said the operation was challenging in view of the timelines and resources.
"There were moments when we were flying six-seven A321 flights as part of Operation Ganga at the same time, with over a thousand people involved in managing and crewing these missions. But the fact that we are well-practised in irregular operations, helped us to perform these flights at short notice," Boulter told ANI.
Despite the challenges posed by the Ukraine conflict, the government ensured that about 22,500 Indian citizens have returned home safely. The majority of the people who have been evacuated under Operation Ganga are medical students.
Boulter said they established its base in Istanbul, it was relatively short flights to the relevant airports, Bucharest, Budapest, Rzeszow, Suceava and Kosice and evacuated over 7,000 Indians.
"IndiGo brought back 7,629 Indian citizens across 35 flights from five cities - Bucharest, Budapest, Rzeszow, Suceava and Kosice from February 28 to March 11. We operated the largest number of fights amongst private airlines as part of Operation Ganga. Most of these flights carried relief material during their onward journey while bringing back evacuees on the return leg via Istanbul," the IndiGo official said.
He said the entire IndiGo crew, which was part of Operation Ganga, felt pride and emotional during the operations.
"There have been heart-touching moments wherein the crew went a step ahead to comfort the students being flown back home. Besides handling the passengers emotionally, gestures like buying chocolates for these students from their own pocket, showcased the true spirit of such missions. Many of our crew felt a great sense of pride to be able to take part, and were happy to put up with the inconveniences of long trips away from home in order to serve the nation," Boulter said.
