Special flights ferry nearly 1,000 foreign nationals back home

On Friday, five special flights were operated to Singapore, Japan, and the United States, said sources. At 1.45 am, 248 Singapore nationals boarded Scoot Airlines flight to Singapore. At 4.10 pm, 118 US citizens departed via Mumbai on an Air India flight. At 6 pm, another group of 124 US citizens departed via Delhi on an Air India flight. At 8.30 pm, 215 Japanese citizens departed from Chennai on All Nippon Airways. Around midnight, 236 Singapore citizens are scheduled to depart on a Scoot Airlines flight from Chennai.

Coming to the aid of their citizen who were stranded in India, the embassies of various countries have been coordinating with the Centre to operate special flights to evacuate them. In the last two weeks, hundreds of citizens of countries including the US, Germany, Malaysia and Oman among others had returned to their countries on 16 special flights.

The Customs ensured smooth clearance, and that all passengers maintained social distance at the airport during security check and while boarding the flights.