The maiden repatriation flight under the Vande Bharat Mission to the Thiruvananthapuram international airport arrived in the early hours of Wednesday with 181 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from Doha.
The IX 0374 flight of Air India Express touched down at 1 a.m. Of the passengers, 18 were from adjoining Tamil Nadu, one each was from Karnataka and Maharashtra and the rest were Keralites, mainly from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts.
Home quarantine
Of the 80 passengers allowed to go for home quarantine, 39 were pregnant women, 18 children and two senior citizens. As many as 81 opted for government quarantine facility. Those from other districts were sent by KSRTC buses from the airport itself. Tamil Nadu had arranged a bus for its natives. One of the flyers who had come in contact with a COVID-19 patient while in Qatar and one pregnant woman were hospitalised.