New Delhi, Apr 20 (IANS): The Centre on Monday said that under the Lifeline Udan initiative, 301 flights have transported 507.85 tonnes of medical supplies across the country till April 19.

"Lifeline Udan flights cover over 3 lakh km of aerial distance to transport around 507.85 tons of essential medical cargo," the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said in a statement. "301 flights have been operated under Lifeline Udan by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private carriers. 184 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air."

Besides, helicopter services including Pawan Hans till April 19, 2020 have carried 1.90 tons of cargo covering a distance of 6,537 kms. "The domestic Lifeline Udan cargo includes COVID-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits, Personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, gloves, other materials of HLL and ICMR; cargo requisitioned by State or UT governments and postal packets etc," the statement said.

Additionally, Blue Dart, SpiceJet and IndiGo are also operating cargo flights on a commercial basis. On its part, SpiceJet operated 427 cargo flights from March 24 to April 19 . Out of these, 135 were international cargo flights. Similarly, Blue Dart has operated 141 domestic cargo flights from March 25 to April 19, while budget airline IndiGo has operated 33 cargo flights from April 3-19 carrying 66 tonnes of cargo.

The Lifeline Udan flights connect hubs in locations such as Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Aizwal, Dimapur, Imphal, Coimbatore, Thiruvanthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Port Blair and Goa. As part of India's war against Covid-19, the Civil Aviation Ministry had launched Lifeline Udan flights on March 26 for movement of medical and essential supplies across the country and beyond. Currently, no foreign or domestic passenger flight operations are allowed in the country.