Ukraine crisis: AirAsia India operating evacuation flight from Romania

Budget carrier AirAsia India on Friday said it is operating an evacuation flight from Suceava city in Romania to fly back stranded Indians from the war-hit Ukraine.

AirAsia India's maiden rescue flight under Operation Ganga, has departed from Suceava to Delhi carrying over 170 guests safely, the airline said on Friday.

"The flight departed to Delhi from Suceava at 6.30 pm (local time) and it is being operated via Dubai. it is expected to arrive in Delhi at 4.30 am (on Saturday), subject to OCC approval, an AirAsia India spokesperson said.

The Bengaluru-headquartered carrier, in which Tata Group owns 83.6 per cent stake, and Malaysian airliner group AirAsia the rest 16.33 per cent, also said it is looking to operate few more evacuation flights.

"While there are other flights that are being planned, they are all subject to requirement of the External Affairs Ministry and can only be chartered a day in advance," he said.

India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to a Russian military offensive.

Apart from civilian flights, which have so far been operated by Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Go First and SpiceJet, Indian Air Force helping the government in bringing back the stranded Indians from Ukraine.

According to the MEA, 15 flights landed in India during the past 24 hours, flying back 3,000 Indian nationals while 16 flights are scheduled for the next 24 hours.