VISAKHAPATNAM: Two Air India flights under Vande Bharat Mission Phase-II arrived at Visakhapatnam airport on Tuesday and they brought back 314 Indians stranded in Abu Dhabi and Manila. While the flight from Abu Dhabi landed at 8.45 pm, the other one was delayed by more than an hour and reached the airport after 10 pm.
According to Vizag airport director M Raja Kishore, the passengers, soon after their arrival, underwent a series of examinations. As 25 of the 148 passengers in the Abu Dhabi flight are from Hyderabad, the flight left for the city later. Meanwhile, 166 Non-Resident Telugus were brought to the city from Manila. Of them, eight are from Vizag and the remaining are from other districts of the state. Special buses were arranged for the passengers and an ambulance was also kept ready. A day before, the airport authorities had conducted a trial run.
CISF personnel were deployed to check credentials of the passengers at the entry gate of the terminal building, and their identity was verified through cameras. “The airport has been made ‘touch-free’ with the technology available. The passenger will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. They are also given the option of paid quarantine,” he said. Meanwhile, two more flights from Doha and Kuala Lumpur are scheduled to arrive on May 20 and 22, respectively. In both the flights, around 300 passengers are expected to be brought home.