Airlines Go First and Star Air offered free travel to the six Indian athletes and the men's hockey team after having won medals at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. While Go First (previously Go Air) offered free tickets to the athletes for the next five years, Star Air offered a lifetime of free travel to the medal winners.
Indian won one gold, two silvers and four bronze medals at this year's Olympics. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Saturday bagged a gold to become the second Indian to win an individual gold. Indigo, too, has announced unlimited free travel for Chopra for a year.
Go First, in a statement, said it is offering free travel to "all medal-winners for the next five years, until 2025" to celebrate India's best-ever haul of seven medals at an Olympics on Sunday.
"The seven Olympics medallists Mirabai Chanu (weight-lifting), P.V.sindhu (badminton), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing), the men's hockey team, Ravi Kumar Dahiya (wrestling), Bajrang Punia (wrestling) and gold medallist Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw) will be provided free air travel for any Go First sectors for the next five years," Go First noted.
Regional carrier Star Air, connecting 13 cities in India, said it would be its "privilege to offer our Tokyo Olympic champions a lifetime of free air travel".