About 227 Indian nationals stranded in Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Latvia have been repatriated under the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission. The national carrier AI operated its passenger aircraft for the first time from the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Friday evening and recovered Indian nationals stranded in four European countries due to international travel restrictions imposed since the Corona virus outbreak.
Air India country manager Pankaj Tiwari in Israel told PTI that AI 1184 aircraft landed in New Delhi on Saturday. India’s Ambassador to Finland Vani Rao told PTI-Language, “The return of the country has brought a lot of relief to the trapped Indians especially those who came here as tourists, business travelers or children and students who completed the academic session this year Senior citizens who came to meet me. ”Rao said, “They also included a couple who came to Finland for their honeymoon and were trapped here for three months. Many are returning due to medical treatment and family emergencies. ”
Most of the stranded passengers were in Finland while 15 were from Estonia and some from Denmark and Latvia. The Air India aircraft also brought 168 stranded people to India, including 15 newborns. Rao said that the special aircraft was a big and challenging endeavor as Air India has no operations in Finland and all equipment and ground support was provided by the respective Finland operators.
It was remotely managed by the Air India office in Tel Aviv. The government of Finland, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Border Police and Airport Management Company,
