By IANS,
Mumbai : India has sent around 25 tonnes of relief material to disaster-hit Japan through two Air India special flights, an official said here Friday.
The cargo included two consignments of 10,000 high quality blankets sent on each of the flights Tuesday and Wednesday.
Besides the relief material, Air India has also scheduled the operations of a daily jumbo Boeing 747 aircraft with a capacity of 423 passengers till Monday, the Air India official said.
These large capacity aircraft are being operated in lieu of the scheduled Boeing 777-300 aircraft that fly to Japan four times a week.
The special daily flights were started Wednesday to facilitate the return of a large number of Indians.
These flights are in addition to Air India’s scheduled operations to Osaka three times a week.
Passengers wanting to return to India on these flights may contact Air India offices in Japan for reservations, facilitation and assistance, the official said.
Air India has also decided to waive charges for re-booking, cancellations and refunds on all types of tickets for travel from/to Japan up to March 31, 2011.
Japan was hit by a 9-magnitude earthquake March 11 that triggered a devastating tsunami. Three nuclear reactors have been damaged, escalating fears of a nuclear meltdown.