Air India, SpiceJet & Blue Dart to lift 220 tonnes in 3 days from China

April 23, 2020: As part of the on-going fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Air India, SpiceJet and Blue Dart are planning to airlift 220 tonnes of essential medical cargo in next three days from China compared to 300 tonnes they have already transported since lockdown.

330 flights have been operated under Lifeline Udan by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private carriers covering an aerial distance of 3,27,623 km carrying 551.79 tonnes. 200 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air.

Air India has lifted about 300 tons of essential medical cargo so far this month through the China-India aerobridge.

It is planned that @airindiain along with @flyspicejet & @BlueDart_ will airlift another 220 tons of this critical cargo in the next three days. pic.twitter.com/yRHwlanUyq

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) April 22, 2020

The date-wise breakup of the Lifeline Udan flights is as follows:

S No	Date	Air India	Alliance	IAF	Indigo	SpiceJet	Total
1	26.3.2020	2	-	-	-	2	4
2	27.3.2020	4	9	1	-	-	14
3	28.3.2020	4	8	-	6	-	18
4	29.3.2020	4	9	6	-	-	19
5	30.3.2020	4	-	3	-	-	7
6	31.3.2020	9	2	1	-	-	12
7	01.4.2020	3	3	4	-	-	10
8	02.4.2020	4	5	3	-	-	12
9	03.4.2020	8	-	2	-	-	10
10	04.4.2020	4	3	2	-	-	9
11	05.4.2020	-	-	16	-	-	16
12	06.4.2020	3	4	13	-	-	20
13	07.4.2020	4	2	3	-	-	9
14	08.4.2020	3	-	3	-	-	6
15	09.4.2020	4	8	1	-	-	13
16	10.4.2020	2	4	2	-	-	8
17	11.4.2020	5	4	18	-	-	27
18	12.4.2020	2	2	-	-	-	4
19	13.4.2020	3	3	3	-	-	9
20	14.4.2020	4	5	4	-	-	13
21	15.4.2020	2	5	-	-	-	7
22	16.4.2020	9	-	6	-	-	15
23	17.4.2020	4	8	-	-	-	12
24	18.4.2020	5	-	9	-	-	14
25	19.4.2020	4	-	9	-	-	13
26	20.4.2020	8	4	3	-	-	15
27	21.4.2020	4	-	10	-	-	14
	Total	112	88	122	6	2	330

           

Helicopter services including Pawan Hans Ltd have been operating in J&K, Ladakh, Islands and North East region transporting critical medical cargo and patients. Pawan Hans till 21 April 2020 have carried 1.90 tonnes of cargo covering a distance of 6537kms. 

The domestic Lifeline Udan cargo includes COVID-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits, Personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, gloves, other materials of HLL and ICMR; cargo requisitioned by State/UT Governments and postal packets etc

Special focus has been on the North East Region, island territories and the hill states. Air India and IAF collaborated primarily for J&K, Ladakh, North-East and other    island regions.

Domestic Cargo Operators SpiceJet, Blue Dart and Indigo are operating cargo flights on a commercial basis. SpiceJet operated 447 cargo flights during 24 March to 21 April 2020 covering a distance of 7,12,323 km and carrying 3695 tonnes of cargo. Out of these 154 were international cargo flights. Blue Dart operated 160 domestic cargo flights covering a distance of 1,58,684 km and carrying 2573 tonnes of cargo during 25 March to 21 April 2020. Indigo has operated 35 cargo flights during 3-21 April 2020 covering a distance of 42,752 km and carrying around 84 tonnes of cargo and including 6 international flights.  This also includes medical supplies carried free of cost for the government.

International
A cargo air-bridge has been established with East Asia for transportation of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and Covid-19 relief material. The date-wise quantity of medical cargo brought in as follows:

S No	Date	From	Quantity (Tonnes)
1	04.4.2020	Shanghai	21
2	07.4.2020	Hong Kong	06
3	09.4.2020	Shanghai	22
4	10.4.2020	Shanghai	18
5	11.4.2020	Shanghai	18
6	12.4.2020	Shanghai	24
7	14.4.2020	Hong Kong	11
8	14.4.2020	Shanghai	22
9	16.4.2020	Shanghai	22
10	16.4.2020	Hong Kong	17
11	16.4.2020	Seoul	05
12	17.4.2020	Shanghai	21
13	18.4.2020	Shanghai	17
14	18.4.2020	Seoul	14
15	18.4.2020	Guangzhou	04
16	19.4.2020	Shanghai	19
17	20.4.2020	Shanghai	26
18	21.4.2020	Shanghai	19
19	21.4.2020	Hong Kong	16
		Total	322