SWISS has today launched a special repatriation flight, LX154, from Zurich to Mumbai and New Delhi on behalf of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Operating on a wide-bodied A330 aircraft, the flight left Zurich at 4:00 PM CET on 8 April and arrived  at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on April 9 at around 5:15 AM local time. The aircraft will continue the onward journey after a brief layover as LX8915, departing Mumbai at 9:45 PM local time on April 9, arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi shortly past midnight on 10 April. The return flight, LX147 from Delhi to Zurich, will depart one and a half hours later at 1:35 AM local time the same day (April 10), carrying Swiss and other European nationals home at a time when no international flights are operating to and from India due to the global air traffic lockdown.

Speaking on the special repatriation flight, George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales South Asia – Lufthansa Group, said, „Lufthansa Group airlines are an integral part of the critical infrastructure of their home countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. As a responsible corporate citizen, we are tasked with the duty and privilege to bring people back to their homes in this time of unprecedented global crisis. We are thankful to be able to help the government officials in India and Switzerland  with this special flight.”

Since March 14, Lufthansa Group airlines –SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, and Eurowings – have flown around 220 special flights back to the home countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, involving more than 40,000 holidaymakers. Over 70 further flights are already in preparation. Clients are and have been tour operators, cruise operators (mainly return flights from the Caribbean, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands and North Africa) and governments . Wide-body aircraft – namely the Boeing 747, Airbus A380,Airbus A330/340, and Airbus A350 – are being used to provide as much capacity as possible on these return flights.