While half of the world is struggling to gather up basic necessities to survive nationwide lock downs, Chinese students studying in the US, those from well off families are paying as much as $20,000 dollars (Rs 15 lakh, approx) to book seats in private chartered jets to return to China.
According to an NDTV report, the other option they are left with is to take 60-hour-long flights with multiple stopovers.?
The US is witnessing a drastically high rise of COVID-19 infected patients with the numbers going as bad as 10,000 new cases in just one day. A total of 550 people have lost their lives till now due to the novel pandemic.
Chinese students studying in the US are desperate to get back home to China where the number of new cases have dropped to zero. According to Reuters, these students' parents had offered said amount to their children as pocket money. But rather than spend it on anything else, they used the money to book private jets.
Annelies Garcia, commercial director for Private Fly, a global booking service for charter flights said, "Education agents and schools are the ones making contact on behalf of the Chinese families looking to group together to arrange a private charter, given the lack of airline flights."
However, the service of chartered flights will soon be unavailable for these children as Beijing has already banned the international arrival of these planes and Shanghai is expected to do the same.
Glenn Phillips, a PR and advertising manager at Air Charter Service said, "We have arranged a number of private jets travelling from the U.S. to China repatriating Chinese nationals with routes including New York and Boston to Shanghai, San Jose to Hong Kong and Los Angeles to Guangzhou."
The report by Reuters also added that some sources at air charter firms have said, "The Chinese government is reluctant to let people abroad to come back, though they cannot make it too obvious.?We have received a lot of verbal guidance to restrict chartered flights these days and the door is closing rapidly."
The coronavirus has sent the entire world in a wave of panic and it is absolutely understandable that these young people want to get back to their families. However, it is strongly advised that the only way to stop the infection of the virus is to remain wherever you are. So, whatever you decide to do, make sure you act responsibly.