Nearly 1.39 cr domestic fliers since May 25: Hardeep Singh Puri

Over 1.8 lakh passengers have flown within the country on October 18, taking the total count of domestic fliers to 1.39 crore since May 25 amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.

Nearly 1.39 crore domestic fliers since May 25: Hardeep Singh Puri

The Minister, in a tweet, said that the airports across the country received a footfall of 3,63,757.

"New High! 1581 flights. 3168 total flight movements. 3,63,757 total footfalls at airport. 1,80,838 domestic passengers on 18 October. Nearly 1.39 crore domestic fliers since 25 May 2020. Steady growth trajectory," he tweeted.

Speaking about the Vande Bharat Mission, he said: "No citizen will be left behind. Reaching out to stranded and distressed Indians around the world. More than 2.2 million people have been repatriated and flown out so far. Vande Bharat Mission continues..."

The Vande Bharat Mission was a repatriation exercise by way of which the Government of India facilitated the movement of stranded Indian nationals back to their home amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Puri had earlier said that around two lakh domestic air passengers will be flying every day by the end of October and added that the figure is expected to reach three lakhs between Diwali and the end of the year.All scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended in India on March 25 after the central government imposed a lockdown to contain the further spread of COVID-19. Domestic flights in the country resumed operations from May 25 in a gradual manner.

( With inputs from ANI )