First flight from Jeddah to repatriate Indians arrives in Kozhikode

JEDDAH — A special flight of India’s national carrier, with 147 passengers and four infants on board, left King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) Jeddah for Kozhikode in the southern state of Kerala at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The flight landed at Kozhikode International Airport at around 9.30 p.m.

This was the fourth flight, operated by Air India under the government of India’s largest repatriation of its nationals stranded abroad, dubbed as Vande Bharat Mission. Air India will operate the second flight from Jeddah on Thursday, with passengers heading for Kochi.

Consul General Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh and other officials of the Consulate General arrived at the North Terminal of KAIA to oversee the repatriation procedures. Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh said that more flights would be operated over the coming weeks to repatriate stranded Indian nationals.

He said that the passengers on Wednesday’s flight included nine stranded Umrah pilgrims, pregnant women, laid-off workers, persons on visit visa, and those having medical emergencies. There are Indian nationals from Tabuk, Jazan, Abha, Madinah, Taif, Makkah and Yanbu in addition to Jeddah among the passengers.

They were picked from among those registered with the Indian Embassy. The Consul General thanked the Saudi and Indian authorities for making possible the repatriation of the most compelling cases.

Earlier, Air India operated three flights to India as part of the evacuation mission — two from King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh to Kozhikode and New Delhi, and one from King Fahd International Airport, Dammam to Kochi. Around 800 Indians are estimated to fly back home in the first week of the repatriation.

More than 60,000 Indian nationals have so far registered to travel to India since the launch of the online registration on April 29. The Embassy and the Consulate are working around the clock to ensure the smooth operation of repatriation of all those stranded in the Kingdom.

The government of India started on May 7 the operation to bring back around 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries on board 64 Air India flights. The second phase of the Vande Bharat Mission will be launched between May 16 and May 22.

Indians stranded across 31 countries will return home on board 149 flights in the operation. Over 39 flights would be operating to and fro from the Gulf, which has the highest concentration of Indian nationals, during the second leg of the evacuation process.