One flight each from Manila, USA carrying stranded Indian nationals land in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad international airport, on May 14, received two flights under Vande Bharat Mission. The 5th Vande Bharat evacuation flight of Air India, AI 1612, from Manila via Delhi landed at the Hyderabad airport at 01:58 am with 149 passengers. The 6th Vande Bharat evacuation flight of Air India, AI 104, from Washington (USA) via Delhi landed at Hyderabad airport at 08:22 am with 163 passengers.

“The passengers of both the flights were serviced through the fully sanitised international arrivals of the Main Passenger Terminal of GMR Hyderabad International Airport,” said a spokesperson from GMR Group, which maintains the Hyderabad airport.

The 7th Vande Bharat evacuation flight of Air India, AI 1385, from Kuala Lumpur is expected to land at Hyderabad international airport around 8.15 pm tonight.

All arriving passengers and aircraft crew were brought out from the aircraft in batches of 20-25 persons each. Each passenger/crew member was screened by the thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under supervision of the Airport Health officials (APHO) as per the directives of the MoH&FW (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) prior to immigration formalities.

According to GMR, the airport has enforced social distancing protocol among passengers right from the aerobridge to the terminal. After the health screening of passengers, CISF personnel, in their protective gear, escorted the group of passengers to immigration clearance.

Glass shields were provided at each manned immigration counter to avoid any personal contact between the passengers and immigration officers. Each counter had specified social distancing norms in place. The concerned airline, their ground handling staff and airport personnel were available to guide the passengers and to enforce the social distancing norms.

Every baggage was sanitized through the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt as arranged by the airport. ·

As per the government’s norm, the passengers were taken for mandatory 14- day quarantine at designated locations in the city.

Hyderabad airport has earlier handled four Vande Bharat evacuation flights of Air India during the previous weeks.

In one of the largest evacuation exercises named “Vande Bharat Mission”, the government has announced to operate 64 flights, between May 7 and 13, to bring home nearly 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Out of the 64 flights, Telangana will receive seven flights, two from the USA and one each from Kuwait, UK, UAE, Philippines and Malaysia. The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, had earlier announced that around 15 flights will arrive in Kerala, 11 each in Delhi-NCR and Tamil Nadu, seven in Maharashtra and Telangana, five in Gujarat, three each in Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka and one each in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.