“No more govt-assisted charter flights scheduled from India,” says MFAT

Only 700 out of the total 1200 people who submitted expressions of interest for a seat in the government-assisted charter flight from India were able to eventually return home. 

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed this while responding to an enquiry sent earlier by the Indian Weekender. 

“This was the largest and most complex repatriation mission the Government has undertaken to date, with over 700 people returning home on three New Zealand Government-assisted flights from India,” the spokesperson said. 

Earlier last month the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said 1250 New Zealanders had expressed interest in the flights, from a total of 1922 Kiwis registered as being in India, according to RNZ.

“No more govt-assisted charter flights scheduled from India,” says MFAT

Dashing hopes of many Kiwis stranded in India and waiting for at least another govt charter flight home, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that it is not planning any more evacuation flights. 

“There is not currently another government-assisted flight scheduled.” 

“But we are aware of New Zealanders who were located too far from Mumbai or New Delhi to travel on those flights,” the spokesperson said. 

40 more Kiwis facilitated to return home last week

Meanwhile, MFAT has been exploring other options of evacuating remaining Kiwis stranded in India through other countries' repatriation flights. 

“We continue to explore options for this group, including sharing advice about other countries’ repatriation flights. 

“Last week we were able to secure around 40 seats on Australian organised flights from Chennai and Kolkata,” the spokesperson said. 

MFAT rejects claims of hundreds of Kiwis stranded in North India 

MFAT also rejected claims of many stranded NZ residents and citizens who say they are stranded very near to New Delhi and met eligibility criteria were not offered seats in the three flights while many others from within their proximities were selected, leaving them behind high and dry. 

“All New Zealand citizens that submitted an Expression of Interest and were in the vicinity of Mumbai or New Delhi were offered seats on one of the government-assisted repatriation flights, with the exception of four individuals to which specific circumstances apply.  Some New Zealand citizens who were offered seats chose not to complete a booking or pulled out of the flight before departure,” the spokesperson said. 

Notably, the Indian Weekender had earlier reported a group of 150 Kiwis who say they were citizens and residents and lived in close proximity to New Delhi, in some cases just within 100-kilometre range and could have safely travelled to catch Air NZ charter flight from that airport. 

“We are aware of 365 permanent residents or other visa category holders who submitted Expressions of Interest but were not offered a seat through this process and still remain in India. (This figure includes permanent residents or other visa category holders who submitted Expressions of Interest and are not immediate family members of New Zealand citizens),” the spokesperson said. 

Criteria for selection of EOI’s for a seat in Charter flight:

Responding to the Indian Weekender’s query on the criteria for selection of EOI’s of Kiwis stranded in India, the spokesperson said that access to New Zealand facilitated charter flights were prioritised in the following order:

• New Zealand citizens.
• Non-New Zealand citizens who are the immediate family member of a New Zealand citizen and were travelling with a New Zealand citizen.  Immediate family means partner, children and parents/legal guardians. 
• Permanent residents and then foreign nationals were considered in the event there were any unfilled seats.
• Within each category, we also considered whether an individual was “vulnerable” and therefore warranted priority, for example, because of their age (elderly) or health status.  We also considered how practical it was for people to move to the departure location of the flights in the time available.
• All New Zealand citizens that submitted an Expression of Interest and were in the vicinity of Mumbai or New Delhi were offered seats on one of the government-assisted repatriation flights, with the exception of four individuals to which specific circumstances apply.  Some New Zealand citizens who were offered seats chose not to complete a booking or pulled out of the flight before departure.
• Some permanent residents and other visa category holders were offered seats to return to New Zealand on the flights consistent with the eligibility criteria.