30,000 British travellers returned to UK on 142 special Government charter flights

LONDON, May 11 (APP):More than 30,000 British travellers have now returned
to United Kingdom (UK) on 142 special Government charter flights from
27 different countries and territories since COVID-19 spread.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) London, on Monday, the first flight to
bring British travellers back to the UK following the spread of the
pandemic departed Wuhan on January 31.
The 30,000th passenger to return home to the UK landed on a special charter
flight from Amritsar, northern India, on Saturday evening.
The FCO statement added that the Foreign Office has been
working round the clock with the airline industry and host
governments across the world to help bring back British travellers
as part of a major plan announced by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
on March 30.
Upto £ 75 million has been made available for special charter
flights to priority countries, focused on helping the most
vulnerable travellers.
So far, charter flights have returned British nationals to
the UK from countries ranging from Bolivia to Bermuda and
New Zealand to Nepal.
The FCO statement further said that the countries with
the greatest numbers of British travellers returning on Government
charter flights included more than 4,000 British nationals on 19
flights from Pakistan since April 20.
Likewise, more than 13,500 British nationals from India
on 58 flights since April 8, more than more than 2,000 British
nationals from South Africa from April 9-17, more than 1,500 British
nationals from New Zealand since April 25 and around 1,600 British
nationals from Bangladesh since April 21.
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
said: “On top of the 1.3 million Britons we’ve helped return
on commercial flights, we’ve now brought
back 30,000 UK travellers from twenty-seven countries”.
“We remain tirelessly focused on helping the most vulnerable
Brits around the world get back home safe and sound”,he remarked.
It was also estimated that so far over 1.3 million people – more than 14 times the
capacity of Wembley stadium – have returned to the UK via commercial routes.
Keeping commercial options running has required enormous
international effort, with teams in the UK and in our Embassies
and Consulates around the world working 24/7 to help overcome
this unprecedented challenge.
The statement said that the majority of these routes
were supported by the work of the FCO with airlines and foreign
governments to keep vital transit hubs open and ensure that
domestic restrictions did not pose a barrier to getting people home.
It added that UK government had helped 200,000 passengers
return from Spain on commercial routes, as well as 50,000 passengers
from Australia, 11,700 from Pakistan, 9,000 from Morocco and around
7,000 from Indonesia.
“Around 300 British nationals have returned from Kenya on
five commercial flights, which would not have been possible without
the work of our High Commission in Nairobi”, the FCO statement said.
It added, “Our efforts have seen a group of volunteers
rescued from a remote part of Madagascar, climbers extracted
from mountains in Nepal by British Gurkhas, and backpackers
reunited with their families after being flown home from
South America”.
“In one case, staff in India masterminded a 60-hour, 1,700
mile long trip involving five different drivers and crossing
seven states, even receiving a police escort at one point,
to make sure a British citizen could take one of our special
return flights to the UK”,the FCO statement said.
Meanwhile, it added, “our Embassy in Sudan helped
two doctors make it back to join the NHS frontline”.
The FCO statement said that more than 19,000 British passengers
who were aboard 60 cruise ships when the FCO changed travel advice
on March 17 have all now disembarked.
“The FCO helped passengers return
home by providing consular assistance, working with local
authorities, local military teams and cruise operators to allow
ships to dock the statement said”.
It further said FCO would continue to send charter
flights to bring back vulnerable British nationals who have no
other way to return to the UK.
The FCO statement added that a package of measures to
support British nationals who were still waiting to return to
the UK has also been put in place.
“The support package addresses financial issues, healthcare
concerns and visa extensions, as well as loans for those who
cannot afford flights to the UK where they have exhausted all
other options”, the statement said.