Vande Bharat Mission: First two Air India Express flights land in Kerala
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Kochi, May 08: As a part of India's biggest ever repatriation exercise, the first two Special Air India flights carrying Indian stranded citizens from Abu Dhabi, UAE landed in Kochi and Kozhikode on Thursday night. The repatriation flight being a part of the massive repatriation exercise named 'Vande Bharat Mission' carried a total of 363 passengers, including nine infants.
While the first Air India Express flight carrying 177 passengers and four infants from Abu Dhabi landed at Kochi at 10.09 pm, the second flight from Dubai carrying the same number of passengers and five infants landed at Kozhikode a few minutes later at 10.32 pm.
Good work Team @IndembAbuDhabi under @AmbKapoor and Team @cgidubai under CG Vipul. https://t.co/g15mpNkpY4
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 7, 2020
The first batch of passengers who arrived include pregnant women (44 in Kochi and 19 in Karipur), those with medical emergencies (16 and 51), persons whose visas have expired, those who lost their jobs, among others. The pilots and cabin crew were in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) suit on the flights which carried the evacuated citizens.
They too #CoronaWarriors in their own right.#Airindia @airindiain cabin crew members of flight that carried expatriates from Abudhabi to Kochi share happiness and pride for being part of #VandeBharatMission pic.twitter.com/o2Q9tkyKnB
— Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) May 8, 2020
It is reported that all passengers have undergone coronavirus anti-body tests at the airport before departure. While the Kerala government also had made extensive arrangements to welcome the evacuated citizens at the airport.
Citizens were taken to the hostel rooms of Rajagiri and SCMS colleges, where institutional quarantine facilities have been set up for maximum two-week isolation. Special taxis were arranged for pregnant women, those above 75 years and children below 10 years who all left straight for their homes straight from the airport, where they will be under strict home quarantine (self-isolation) for 14 days, officials said.
All passengers were asked to download the Arogya Setu app on their mobile devices and submit forms of the undertaking, as directed by the Government of India, on their arrival at the airport, they said.
More than 200,000 Indians have registered for flying home. However, ten flights were scheduled for the first week of repatriation that began on Thursday. Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.