Ukraine-Russia Crisis: Know the cost of evacuation flights to bring back Indians for free

New Delhi: As the Russia-Ukraine war enters into another crucial day on Monday, the Indian government has said that it will do everything possible to bring back all its citizens stranded in the war-affected nation.

Reportedly, India is enabling the evacuation of stranded Indians from Ukraine through its land border crossings with Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia even after the closure of Ukrainian airspace.

The Air India is ferrying hundreds of people to India. India has named the evacuation mission ‘Operation Ganga’.

The first evacuation flight carrying 219 Indians from Bucharest landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening. The second flight with 250 nationals arrived in Delhi in the early hours of Sunday. The third Air India flight with around 240 Indians had also left for Delhi from Hungarian capital Budapest.

The Indian government on Sunday said that it will evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine for free, as it promised to bear all expenses. But do you know how much expenses is the government bearing?

As per a report by PTI, the cost of operating a two-way evacuation flight will be more than Rs 1.10 crore. The amount will go up depending on the duration of the flights, added sources. The expenses will shoot up in case the duration is longer.

The cost of operating a chartered flight with the Dreamliner is around Rs 7 to 8 lakh per hour. The amount will depend upon where the flight will go and how far will be the flight travel. The total cost includes expenses related to crew, fuel, navigation, landing, and parking charges. The Dreamliner has more than 250 seats.

It is to be noted that, Air India is operating flights to Bucharest (Romania) and Budapest (Hungary) and both are offline stations for the airline, which means it does not have scheduled services to these places.

Till now, a few Air India flights have returned with Indians, who were stranded in Ukraine, from Bucharest and Budapest. Indians crossed the Ukranian borders with Romania and Hungary, respectively, before they were flown out from these destinations.

Ukranian airspace is closed for civilian flights since February 24 amid the Ukraine-Russia war.