The government of India has facilitated flights from Bengaluru and Delhi as part of the efforts to repatriate the Indians stranded in the Maldives following the lockdown imposed across the Greater Malé Region.

The High Commission of India in the Maldives revealed this via Twitter earlier this week, stating that Air India flights from Bengaluru and Delhi are set to carry passengers from the Maldives on May 22 and May 23, respectively.

These flights will have eight Business Class seats and 141 Economy class seats, available to reserve through Villa Travels.

The tickets for the flight from Malé to Bengaluru are prices at USD 533 for Business Class and USD 372 for Economy Class and has been scheduled for May 22.

Further, tickets for the flight from Malé to Delhi will be priced at USD 501 for Business Class and USD 402 for Economy and has been scheduled for May 23.

HCI noted publicized a list of 99 passengers as the first batch to be evacuated via Air India flight AI 266 from the Velana International Airport (VIA) to Bengaluru on May 22.

The shortlisted passengers are urged to contact Villa travels through their hotline 3332666, e-mail them through [email protected] or Viber contact 9557552.

Passengers shortlisted in are required to purchase the tickets on or before 10am on May 20 and unsold tickets will be released to passengers in the reserve list, by the cut off time of 10am.

Passengers are required to carry valid passports while being repatriated and those with lost, damaged or expired passports are required to visit the HCI on urgent basis for issuance of an emergency certificate for repatriation.

The high commission will attend such cases “expeditiously” from 10am to 5pm on Tuesday.

It has also been noted that the travellers will be required to undergo mandatory 14 days in quarantine on arrival in India.

They will be required to bear the cost of quarantine in India which would be a “basic facility”, said the high commission.

50 passengers shortlisted on the second list have been urged to purchase tickets before 11am, Wednesday and their flight is set to depart on May 22.

146 passengers have been shortlisted to travel on the flight from Malé to Delhi and have been urged to purchase the tickets on oh before 5pm on Wednesday. After the cut of time, tickets will be released to passengers in the reserve list.

This comes at a time a number of Indian nationals stranded in the Maldives due to the lockdown have been repatriated under the biggest evacuation exercise initiated by the government of India, to evacuate Indians stranded in foreign countries through their navy ships.