SWISS airlines on Thursday launched a special repatriation flight, LX154, from Zurich to Mumbai and New Delhi on behalf of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
The flight, A330 aircraft, that left Zurich at 4:00 PM CET (7.30 PM IST) on 8 April and arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on April 9 at around 12:15 AM local time.
After a halt for some minutes, the flight-LX8915 is scheduled to reach at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport shortly past midnight on 10 April. The return flight, LX147 from Delhi to Zurich, will depart one and a half hours later at 1:35 AM local time the same day (April 10), carrying Swiss and other European nationals home.
Speaking on the special repatriation flight, George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales South Asia – Lufthansa Group, said, “Lufthansa Group airlines are an integral part of the critical infrastructure of their home countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. As a responsible corporate citizen, we are tasked with the duty and privilege to bring people back to their homes in this time of unprecedented global crisis. We are thankful to be able to help the government officials in India and Switzerland with this special flight.”
Since March 14, Lufthansa Group airlines – SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, and Eurowings reportedly have flown around 220 special flights back to the home countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, involving more than 40,000 holidaymakers.
Over 70 further flights are already in preparation.
Indian is currently under a 21-day lockdown and has banned all domestic and international flights as the government aims to contain the spread of the virus. However, carriers flowing essential goods and other evacuation flights have been allowed from time-to-time.