The airline wrapped a Boeing 737 aircraft with the actor’s livery dedicated to his selfless work during and after the lockdown
SpiceJet has dedicated a special aircraft livery to honour actor and “real-life superhero” Sonu Sood for his “unparalleled contribution and efforts” at helping millions of stranded Indians reach their homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The airline unveiled a special livery with an image of the actor wrapped on its Boeing 737 aircraft.
After the lockdown was imposed in 2020 amid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, SpiceJet and Sood teamed up to repatriate thousands of stranded Indians including over 1,500 Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan, hundreds of Indian nationals stuck in Russia, Uzbekistan, Manila, and Almaty among other countries.
SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh expressed pride in the company’s association with Sood during the pandemic and called the special livery a “tribute for Sonu’s selfless efforts and to thank him for the outstanding and exemplary work that he has done to help millions during this pandemic.”
In response to the gesture, Sood acknowledged SpiceJet’s non-stop operation during the lockdown. “I am thankful to SpiceJet for their untiring and invaluable support that helped reunite thousands of stranded Indians with their families,” he said.
Sood has worked to help the disadvantaged since the lockdown was imposed in March 2020. Among Sood’s efforts, the Ghar Bhejo campaign to send migrants home and bring back stranded Indian students stood out as he and his team arranged transportation for these groups even with local transportation was stopped.
Besides facilitating transportation for thousands of Indians to go back home, Sood also launched an app, Pravasi Rojgar (now known as GoodWorker) – aimed at helping returned migrants find work in their home states and the Sonu Sood Job portal to help skilled and unskilled workers find jobs.
He also started a successful food and ration drive called ‘Shakti Annadanam’ offering daily meals to more than one lakh migrant workers and homeless labourers in Mumbai every week.
In its capacity, SpiceJet brought home 2.5 lakh Indian and foreign nationals stranded in different countries on more than 1,500 special flights. The airline also operated around 16,000 cargo flights carrying more than 133,500 tonnes of vital supplies and cargo since March 25, 2020.
