JOIN USJet Airways carried out 479 passengers while Air India brought 371 tourists, stranded in Leh for past four days following the cloudburst that claimed 147 lives.
A total of 3,241 passengers have been evacuated from Leh and brought back to cities like New Delhi, Srinagar and Jammu in past three days as Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher operated 27 special flights.
"Despite severely inclement weather, Air India and other private operators like Jet Airways and Kingfisher operated 27 flights since August 7 and managed to evacuate 3241 people from Leh," a Civil Aviation Ministry official said, adding the additional flights would continue until the evacuation process was complete.
Air India also flew 65 passengers from Srinagar to Leh and 89 from Jammu to Leh.
The national carrier would be operating one special flight on Delhi-Leh-Delhi sector tomorrow, which would leave Delhi at 0700 hours, an airlines spokesperson said.
The airlines were charging one-way fare between Rs 6,200 and Rs 9,000 from the passengers in last three days. Kingfisher were charging Rs 6,200 for a one-way ticket from Leh, whereas Jet was charging between Rs 8,157 and Rs 8,700 and a one-way ticket on Air India flight was of Rs 9,000.
"The Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been closely monitoring fare being charged by the scheduled airlines. Airlines have been cautioned against charging excessive fares," the official said.
Following the havoc created by sudden cloudburst, the Ministry of Civil Aviation took action to provide impetus to the relief and rescue operations being carried out by the Army, Air Force and other paramilitary forces.
"Accordingly, the scheduled airlines were requested to operate additional flights at concessional rates to evacuate the stranded persons," he said.
Private carriers, Kingfisher and Jet Airways would operate two additional flights each on Delhi-Leh-Delhi sector tomorrow.
The first Kingfisher flight would leave for Leh at 10 am and reach Leh at 11.20 am and would return at 11.50 am to reach Delhi at 1.10 pm.
Another flight would then leave for Leh at 1.40 pm and arrive at Leh at 3.00 pm while it will leave Leh at 3.30 pm, and arrive in Delhi at 4.50 pm.