A dozen additional chartered flights will take off from several Indian cities, including Calcutta, to take home British nationals stranded amid the nationwide lockdown.

The flights will leave between April 13 and 20. The one from Calcutta, via Delhi, is scheduled to leave on April 19.

The bookings opened on Friday, an official at the British deputy high commission in Calcutta said. A number of seats will be reserved for those deemed vulnerable.

Seven chartered flights from Goa, Mumbai and New Delhi had been announced by the UK government on April 5. The 12 announced on Friday are in addition to the first lot.

The British high commission has told its citizens to check the government travel advisory and visit the booking portal for respective cities to reserve seats.

“British travellers should visit the India Travel Advice page to reserve seats as well as for any further information,” the deputy high commission in Calcutta said in a statement.

Details regarding luggage allowance, flight costs and carriers will be available on the booking portal.

The Telegraph

“We can confirm 12 more charter flights to bring British travellers back home — on top of the flights already launched. We are extremely grateful for the support we are receiving from the government of India on this. Getting people home as quickly as possible remains our absolute priority,” Jan Thompson, acting high commissioner to India, said.

Before the chartered flights, an estimated 35,000 British nationals were in India, of whom more than 20,000 had contacted the British high commission to say they wanted to return to the UK as soon as possible, according to a PTI report.

“Over 3,000 British travellers currently stranded in India will get home on 12 additional charter flights, which have opened for bookings today.

“This follows the seven charter flights announced on April 5 from Goa, Mumbai and New Delhi (April8-12) and will take the total number of people brought back on these 19 flights to around 5,000,” the deputy high commission in Calcutta said in a statement.

“We look forward to getting our people home,” Nick Low, British deputy high commissioner to Calcutta, said.

Till April 9, as many as 1,194 foreigners, including 31 in Bengal, have been assisted through “Stranded in India” portal launched by the tourism ministry in the wake of the lockdown, a ministry official said.