AI flight with 118 evacuees from San Francisco lands in Hyderabad

Air India evacuation flight from San Francisco with 118 passengers on board landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here on Monday.

Vande Bharat evacuation flight AI 1617 from US (San Francisco) to Mumbai and  Hyderabad landed at 9.22 a.m., an airport spokesman said.

This is a part of Vande Bharat Mission, the biggest-ever evacuation of Indian citizens stranded in various countries due to Covid-19 lockdown.

After the completion of immigration and other formalities, the passengers will be transported to designated locations in the city for a mandatory 14-day quarantine period as per the rules framed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Telangana government in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs, various central agencies and the airport authorities made special arrangements to handle the arrivals as per the Standard operating Protocol issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

This is the second flight to land in Hyderabad. The first with 163 evacuees from Kuwait had reached on Saturday.

Third evacuation flight, from Abu Dhabi, is scheduled to reach Hyderabad at around 9.30 p.m. on Monday.

A total of seven evacuation flights are scheduled to land at Hyderabad Airport. Telangana government official said 2,350 stranded Indians from six countries will be reaching Hyderabad.

Under 'Vande Bharat Mission' which began on May 7, the government of India is operating 64 flights till May 13 to bring home nearly 14,800 nationals stranded abroad.