Air India's first evacuation flight to Karnataka from London landed in Bengaluru, with 326 passengers who are citizens of Karnataka," an official said in the early hours of Monday morning.
"The A-I 1803 Boeing-777-337 (ER) from London landed at the Kempegowda international airport at 4.41 a.m., with 326 passengers, including 3 infants," a state government official told IANS.
The flight was over 101 minutes behind schedule, as it flew via New Delhi where it took off at 2.23 a.m.
All passengers were seen wearing mask and maintaining physical distance while coming out of the aircraft through the aero-bridge and till exiting the airport after thermal screening, testing and filling the self-declaration form about their travel history, health status and other details for contact tracing.
All international passengers will be held in mandatory quarantine for 14 days.
Nearly a hour after landing, the passengers were ferried in special buses to hotels for the mandatory 14-day quarantine amid the lockdown enforced on March 25 and extended twice up to May 17 to contain the coronavirus spread in the country.
Deccan Herald reported that BMTC buses, which were arranged for the passengers, took the passengers to the quarantine centres. Also, the pathways, which were barricaded for the passengers, were repeatedly disinfected, the report stated.
State Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, a doctor by profession, was at the airport in the wee hours to receive the returnees and guide them in completing the formalities. Also present were a large number of healthcare workers, policemen, and staff.
As part of the Indian government's evacuation programme “Vande Bharat Mission”, three more Air India repatriation flights are due to land in Bengaluru from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, San Francisco in the US and Singapore on May 13-15 with over 600 of the state’s residents.
Two Air India Express flights are slated to land at Mangaluru airport on May 13-14, with about 350-400 returnees from the Gulf region.
With inputs from IANS