The eight ‘Vande Bharat’ flight, an Air India AI 1839 flight, carrying 121 passengers from Newark (United States) via New Delhi landed at the GMR Hyderabad International Airport at 3:14 a.m. on Saturday. All the passengers were serviced through the fully sanitised International Arrivals of the main passenger terminal, informed an official spokesperson.
The airport authorities kept the international arrivals and the entire stretch right from the aerobridge to the arrivals ramp fully sanitised and fumigated. All passengers and aircraft crew were brought out from the aircraft in a batch of 20-25 persons and screened by thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under the supervision of the Airport Health officials (APHO).
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 airline, its ground handling staff and airport personnel were available to guide the passengers and to enforce the social distancing norms. Every baggage was sanitised by the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt as arranged by the airport. The baggage trolleys were kept fully sanitised.
Passengers were then taken for the mandatory 14-day quarantine at the designated locations in the city. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has so far received over 1,200 Indian nationals stranded in various countries like US, Kuwait, UAE, UK, Manila, Kuala Lampur etc.
It has also handled 12 departures evacuation flights serving close to 1,000 foreign nationals who were repatriated by various special relief flights to the UK, the UAE, the US, Kenya and Germany, the spokesperson added.
