Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) is set to receive around 2,350 Indians over the period of one week, starting Sunday.
These Indians will arrive by repatriation flights arranged by the government of India to facilitate the return of 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad.
A Mumbai International Aiport Limited spokesperson said the airport has put together a standard operating procedure to ensure the safety of all passengers.
The repatriation operations will see CSMIA catering to 10 flights and six transit flight in the course of seven days, welcoming Indians returning from the U.S., U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Philippines, with 4 flights arriving on Sunday.
CSMIA said it will comply with the government guidelines during the repatriation. The airport will ensure the safety and well being of the passengers, right from the time the flight lands and passengers disembark the aircraft till they leave the terminal building.
“Two dedicated aerobridges have been identified for the repatriation flights, along with provision of proper infrastructure to the Airport Health Officer (APHO) for the screening of passengers before entering the immigration area,” the spokesperson said.
Passengers will need to maintain a physical distance of at least 2 metres through distinctive markings laid out at the airport and are required to wear face masks and gloves during the entire course of their journey.
In addition, the airport has set up 30 immigration counters for undertaking the necessary procedures and ensuring quick clearance of arriving passengers. Other special arrangements include provision of food and beverage facilities for passengers in the arriving hall.
“The airport will be undertaking preventive measures by disinfecting the baggage before loading on the conveyor belt and providing sanitised baggage trolleys. Hand sanitisers will be placed on various touchpoints at the airport. Arriving passengers will be escorted by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel until they are handed over to State authorities.
“CSMIA will be operating with just one-third of its staff who will be provided with PPE, face masks, hand gloves and sanitisers, as per the directive by the Ministry of Health and Family Wefare,” the spokesperson said.
The airport maintenance staff will continue to follow the comprehensive cleaning procedures to efficiently sanitise and disinfect the terminal building including the vital areas such as elevator buttons, escalators, railings, amongst others. Further, the APHO, immigration, customs and CISF personnel who would be coming in direct contact with the arriving passengers, will be provided with face shields and PPE.
For the benefit of the passengers, a limited number of forex and SIM card outlets will be made operational at the airport so passengers may download and install Aarogya Setu App on their mobile phones prior to proceeding on quarantine.
Provisions have also been made in the eventuality that any symptomatic passenger is identified at the airport; they would be immediately isolated and moved to the separate area earmarked for the purpose. Additionally, designated airport ambulances have been kept on standby to shift the symptomatic passengers to designated isolation centres.
The State government has made arrangements for asymptomatic passengers from Mumbai to be moved to identified quarantine facilities like hotels, depending on their preference while those from other cities will be transported by the State to their respective district headquarters for institutional quarantine. For this purpose, a help desk has been set up at the airport to guide the arriving passengers.
8,500 people repatriated
Till date, CSMIA has facilitated repatriation of over 8,500 passengers with 51 evacuation flights froim March 25 to May 9. These flights have been to Tehran, Zurich, Bali, Addis Ababa, Paro, London, Atlanta, Singapore, Paris, Frankfurt, Kenya, Muscat and Tokyo. The airport also witnessed the arrival of Air New Zealand for the first time.
Of the total repatriation flights facilitated, Atlanta saw over 2,000 passengers evacuated with 8 flights operated by Delta Airlines. London was the other destination with 6 flights operated by Air India and 2 flights each by Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. Air India operated 6 flights to Frankfurt, Paris, and London
