Flight from Newark with 121 evacuees land in Hyderabad

Another evacuation flight of Air India from the US with 121 passengers landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here early Saturday.

Vande Bharat Flight Air India AI 1839, Newark (USA) - Delhi-Hyderabad landed at 3.14 a.m. with 121 passengers on board, an airport spokesman said.

The passengers were serviced through the fully sanitized International Arrivals of the Main Passenger Terminal.

After the completion of immigration and other formalities, the passengers were transported to designated locations in the city for a mandatory 14-day quarantine period as per the rules framed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Telangana government in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, various central agencies and the airport authorities made special arrangements to handle the arrivals as per the Standard operating Protocol issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

This was the eighth flight to land in Hyderabad under the Vande Bharat mission, aimed at evacuation of stranded Indians from various countries.

All passengers and aircraft crew were brought out from the aircraft in a batch of 20-25. Each passenger was screened by the thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit by Airport Health officials prior to immigration formalities. Every baggage was thoroughly sanitized by the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt.

Glass shields were provided at each manned immigration counter to avoid any personal contact between the passengers and immigration officers.

The Hyderabad Airport has so far handled evacuation flights from the US, the UK, Kuwait, the UAE, the Philippines and Malaysia repatriating over 1,200 Indian citizens stranded off-shore.