New Delhi: During Covid-19 lockdown period, essential medical supplies including consignments of ICMR, HLL and others are continuously being delivered across the country. Domestic public and private airline operators such as Air India, IAF, Pawan Hans, Indigo and Blue Dart transport medicines, ICMR consignments, HLL consignments and other essential supplies to Srinagar, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar and other regions of the country on 8th April 2020. Ministry of Civil Aviation is also coordinating for delivery of cargo of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Textiles, Department of Posts etc. so that the collective purpose of making the essential medical supplies to people in all parts of the country is served. Further, due safety protocols are followed at every stage – from collection of cargo to entire process of transportation till delivery at the destination.
Total cargo transported by Lifeline UDAN flights is around 248 Tons tons during Covid-19 lockdown. 167 flights have been operated under Lifeline UDAN till date covering 1,50,006 Kms.
| S.No. | Date | Air India | Alliance | IAF | Indigo | SpiceJet | Total flights operated |
| 1 | 26.3.2020 | 02 | — | – | – | 02 | 04 |
| 2 | 27.3.2020 | 04 | 09 | 01 | – | — | 14 |
| 3 | 28.3.2020 | 04 | 08 | – | 06 | — | 18 |
| 4 | 29.3.2020 | 04 | 10 | 06 | — | — | 20 |
| 5 | 30.3.2020 | 04 | – | 03 | — | — | 07 |
| 6 | 31.3.2020 | 09 | 02 | 01 | — | 12 | |
| 7 | 01.4.2020 | 03 | 03 | 04 | — | – | 10 |
| 8 | 02.4.2020 | 04 | 05 | 03 | — | — | 12 |
| 9 | 03.4.2020 | 08 | — | 02 | — | — | 10 |
| 10 | 04.4.2020 | 04 | 03 | 02 | — | — | 09 |
| 11 | 05.4.2020 | — | — | 16 | — | — | 16 |
| 12 | 06.4.2020 | 03 | 04 | 13 | — | — | 20 |
| 13 | 07.4.2020 | 04 | 02 | 03 | — | — | 09 |
| 14 | 08.4.2020 | 03 | — | 03 | 06 | ||
| Total Flights | 56 | 46 | 57 | 06 | 02 | 167 |
Air India and IAF collaborated primarily for J&K, Ladakh, North-East and other island regions.
Air India lifted 3.76 tons of supplies to Colombo on 8 April 2020. Air India will be operating dedicated scheduled cargo flights to other countries for uplifting of critical medical equipment as per the requirement.
Domestic Cargo Operators; Blue Dart, Spicejet and Indigo are operating cargo flights on commercial basis. Spicejet operated 220 cargo flights from 24 March – 8 April 2020 covering a distance of 2,99,775Kms and carrying 1805.6Tons of cargo. Out of these 61 were international cargo flights. Blue Dart operated 70 domestic cargo flights covering a distance of 67,273Kms and carrying 1,075 Tons of cargo from 25 March – 8 April 2020.
Indigo has also operated 15 cargo flights on 3 – 8 April 2020 covering a distance of 12,206Kms and carrying 4.37 tons of cargo.
Domestic cargo by Spicejet (As on 08.4.2020)
| Date | No. of Flights | Tonnage | Kilometres |
| 08-04-2020 | 11 | 100.63 | 10,329 |
International cargo by Spicejet (As on 08.4.2020)
| Date | No. of Flights | Tonnage | Kilometres |
| 08-04-2020 | 6 | 57.38 | 12,366 |
Blue Dart cargo uplift (As on 08.4.2020)
| Date | No. of Flights | Tonnage | Kilometres |
| 08-04-2020 | 6 | 1,23.300 | 5,027.85 |
Indigo cargo uplift (As on 08.4.2020)
| Date | No. of Flights | Tonnage | Kilometres |
| 15 | 4.37 | 12,206 |
(Note – Indigo’s Tonnage also includes Govt. cargo consisting of medical supplies carried on Free of Cost (FOC) basis.)
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