Air India, Go First flights bring back 362 Indians stranded in Ukraine

Mumbai: An Air India Express flight from Bucharest carrying 185 Indians stranded in Ukraine landed in Mumbai on Friday, an official said.

Union minister Raosaheb Danve welcomed the passengers as soon as the Air India Express Flight IX 1204 landed at 2am. This was the fourth evacuation flight to have landed in Mumbai. Another flight, this one from Budapest, is likely to land in Mumbai around 8 am on Friday, the official said. Interacting with passengers, Danve said the evacuation operation will continue till all those stranded in war-torn Ukraine are brought back to India.

Go First brings back 177 stranded Indians from Budapest
Private carrier Go First on Friday said it has operated first evacuation flight to New Delhi from Budapest in Hungary to bring back 177 Indian evacuees from war-hit Ukraine.

The airline also said it will operate two flights every day till March 10 as part of the Operation Ganga mission.

The first evacuation flight of Go First from Budapest departed at 5:58pm (local time) on Thursday and arrived in New Delhi at 9:20am (local time) on Friday with 177 passengers onboard, the airline said in a statement.

For the evacuation, the flight had departed from New Delhi at 10:30am (local time) on Thursday and landed at Budapest via Kuwait at 4 am (local time), it said.

"The airline has always been at the forefront and stands committed to providing our services during a crisis situation for helping our fellow citizens when they need it the most," said Go First CEO Kaushik Khona.

Ukraine's airspace has been closed since February 24 and India is evacuating its citizens by special flights from the eastern European country's western neighbours like Romania, Hungary and Poland.

(With inputs from PTI)