Hyderabad international airport facilitates first Vande Bharat evacuation flight from Kuwait to Hyderabad

National

Government of India’s Vande Bharat Mission, the biggest-ever evacuation drive of Indian citizens stranded across the globe amid the COVID-19 lockdown has taken off in a big way. Contributing towards this national cause, GMR-led Hyderabad International Airport handled the first arrival evacuation flight from Kuwait on 9th May. The national carrier – Air India flight – AI 988 – from Kuwait landed at the airport on 9th May at 10.07 PM with 163 Indian citizens.

To facilitate the arriving passengers and aircraft crew, the Hyderabad International Airport kept the international arrivals and the entire stretch right from the aerobridge to the arrivals ramp fully sanitised and fumigated. This included – sanitisation of every nook & corner of building and public areas including washrooms, chairs, counters, trolleys, railings, doors, lifts, escalator’s etc. The airport also ensured social distancing among passengers right from the aerobridge to across the terminal.

All arriving passengers and aircraft crew were brought out from the aircraft in a batch of 20-25 passengers. Each passenger was screened by thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit by Airport Health officials, as per the directives of MoHFW (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) prior to Immigration formalities.

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After the health screening of passengers, 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 concerned Airline, their ground handling staff and airport personnel were available to guide the passengers and to enforce the social distancing norms. Every baggage was sanitised by the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt as arranged by the airport. The baggage trolleys were kept fully sanitised for passengers’ use. The passengers were also provided seating arrangement with complimentary boxes of food.

As per the government’s norm, the passengers were taken for mandatory 14 day quarantine at the designated locations in the city. After the exit of all passengers, entire processing area at the international arrivals and ancillary zones were again fumigated, disinfected and sanitised and kept ready for next set flights in subsequent days.

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