With 337 more persons arriving on Friday, Air India has brought over 1,600 Indians from quake-hit Japan and has carried over 25 tonnes of relief material, including 20,000 blankets, to that country.
"A total of 337 people have arrived from Tokyo in Air India's flight AI 307 today. Since March 12, the airline brought back 1,637 passengers, mostly Indians, from Japan," an Air India official said.
On Thursday, the airline had carried 385 passengers home from Tokyo's Narita airport.
The national carrier has deployed Boeing 747-400 aircraft on Delhi-Tokyo route, instead of regular Boeing 777-300 plane, to accommodate and facilitate more Indians wanting to return from Japan.
We have also extended the deployment of Boeing 747 till March 21, instead of March 19 as decided earlier, the official said.
With more Indians wanting to leave Japan, currently struggling to avert a meltdown at some of its nuclear installations following a massive earthquake and giant tsunami waves devastating Sendei, Air India had deployed the 423-seater Boeing 747 to bring more people, from March 16.
Earlier, Air India was operating only four flights in a week. Flight AI306 leaves Delhi at 2300 hours and reaches Narita (Tokyo) at 0950 hours (local time)
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