The first two Air India repatriation flight carrying 177 passengers each from the UAE landed in Kochi and Kozhikode respectively. The flights are part of India’s massive operation to bring back some of the thousands of citizens stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions with passenger jets and naval ships.
The first Air India Express flight took off at 5.07 pm. A few minutes later, a Dubai-Kozhikode flight took off at 5:46 pm as part of the massive repatriation exercise named ”Vande Bharat Mission.”
There are no suspected COVID-19 cases among the first batch of 354 passengers being flown back on Thursday.
Nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries over a week, starting Thursday.
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The central government had banned all incoming international flights in late March as it imposed one of the world’s strictest virus lockdowns, leaving vast numbers of workers and students stranded.
