168 US nationals airlifted from Hyderabad to Mumbai

Hyderabad, April 10 (IANS) A total of 168 US nationals stranded in Hyderabad were flown out to Mumbai on two special Air India flights from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

According to GMR-led Airport, an Airbus A 320 aircraft landed at 1.52 p.m. from Mumbai and departed with 70 US-bound passengers (69 adults and one infant) at 3.03 p.m. to Mumbai.

The second special flight, also an Airbus A 320 aircraft, landed at at 3.12 p.m. from Mumbai and departed with 98 US-bound passengers (96 adults and 2 infants) at 4.24 p.m. to Mumbai.

As per the flight itinerary, the passengers were to be further connected with Delta Airlines from Mumbai to their final destinations in the US.

Both the flights were purely domestic and operated from the main Passenger Terminal Building of the Hyderabad International Airport.

In coordination with the US Consulate and the Telangana government, the US-bound passengers reached the airport from various part of Hyderabad. All these passengers were serviced through the fully-sanitised main passenger terminal building, which has been kept ready for evacuation operations, an airport spokesman said.

With the two flights on Friday, a total of 267 US nationals have been airlifted from Hyderabad.

On April 7, Hyderabad Airport had served 99 US bound passengers who flew to Mumbai and from there to the US by Delta Airlines.

Earlier, on March 31, a group of 38 German nationals flew from Hyderabad by a special flight of Air India which ferried the passengers from Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai to Frankfurt.

The Hyderabad Airport also serviced a special medical evacuation flight of IndiGo, which dropped its 8 crew members bound for Hyderabad and departed to Chennai with 5 stranded IndiGo crew members.

While the RGIA is handling the seamless operations of evacuation flights as per requirements, its cargo terminal is also fully operational to keep the vital link of essential supplies completely alive.

–IANS

ms/vd