Two special flights from the UAE carrying a total of 354 Indian nationals, including nine infants, left for Kerala on Thursday, as India began its biggest ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the coronavirus-induced travel restrictions.
The first Air India Express flight carrying 177 passengers from Abu Dhabi to Kochi took off at 5.07 pm (local time). Few minutes later, the Dubai-Kozhikode flight took off at 5.46 pm (local time) as part of the massive repatriation exercise named 'Vande Bharat Mission.'
"#VandeBharatMission begins! The first flight with 177 passengers takes off from Abu Dhabi to Kochi. #TeamIndia will continue with its tireless efforts to bring Indians home," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava tweeted.
Passengers slected by the Indian missions started arriving at the Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports as early as 9.30 am on Thursday.
Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor was seen enquiring about their ...
