Two more flights bring Indians back from US, UAE

They were sent for mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated locations in Hyderabad

The Vande Bharat evacuation flight from US at the Hyderabad International Airport.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here handled two more flights as part of the ‘Vande Bharat’ plan to bring Indians home from abroad — one from the US in the morning and another from the UAE on Monday night. Air India flight AI 1617 from San Francisco arrived via Mumbai at 9.22 a.m., carrying 118 Indian citizens. Another batch from Abu Dhabi arrived by Air India flight AI 1920 around 9.30 p.m.

The airport has kept international arrivals and the entire stretch right from the aerobridge to the arrivals ramp fully sanitised and fumigated, including sanitisation of every nook and corner of building like washrooms, chairs, counters, trolleys, railings, doors, lifts, escalators etc. Social distancing was also enforced among passengers right from the aerobridge till across the terminal.

All arriving passengers and aircraft crew were brought out of the aircraft in a batch of 20-25 persons each. Each passenger/crew was screened by thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under supervision of the Airport Health officials as per the directives of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare prior to immigration formalities.

After the health screening, CISF personnel in their protective gears 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, ground handling staff and airport personnel concerned were available to guide the passengers. Every baggage was sanitised through the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt as arranged by the airport. Baggage trolleys were kept fully sanitised for use by passengers, who were also provided food.

As per the government’s norms, the passengers were sent for the mandatory 14-day quarantine at designated locations in the city. Two days ago, the airport received the first ‘Vande Bharat’ evacuation flight (AI 988) from Kuwait, in which 163 Indian citizens arrived at 9.51 p.m. and were quarantined.

RGIA has handled 12 evacuation flights serving over 900 foreign nationals who were repatriated by various special relief flights from here to UK, UAE, US, Kenya and Germany, an official spokesman said.