New Delhi: An Air India aircraft flying to Moscow was called back after the pilot tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday morning. The ferry flight only had the crew on-board.
The aircraft was over Uzbekistan at the time it was called back, according to a Times of India report. The team checking pre-flight test reports of crew members had mistakenly read the pilot’s positive report as negative and released him for the ferry flight to fly back Indians from Moscow.
The crew will be quarantined as per norms. This plane will be fumigated and the airline is sending another A320 Neo to Moscow on Saturday afternoon to fly back Indians from there.
Last week in a digital press conference, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had confirmed that the government will try to start a good percentage of international flights before August.
While announcing the resumption of domestic flights from May 25, Minister Puri said that the decision on resumption of international flights is yet to be taken.
The Vande Bharat repatriation flights, however, will continue, but as of now, the ministry is focusing on the domestic operations. He further added that govt will be able to bring around 50,000 citizens back through special flights during first 25 days of Vande Bharat Mission.
The minister said that currently, they are going to observe how the domestic operations perform and then take the experience and learning from these flights in order to make a decision on international flights in the future.
