German nationals evacuated in special flight from Hyderabad

A group of German nationals were on Tuesday evacuated in a special flight bound for Frankfurt in Germany. They were stranded in India due to national lockdown announced last week to contain the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Hyderabad International Airport, managed by the GMR Group, handled the special relief flight operated by national carrier Air India to evacuate German nationals stranded in India.

The special flight -- AI 3005, a Dreamliner (Boeing B787-8) airbus -- landed at Hyderabad International Airport this morning at 7.32 from Chennai. A group of 38 passengers - 19 women, 17 men, and two infants -- had to be evacuated. The Telangana government, in coordination with the German consulate, brought them from various parts of Hyderabad to the airport around 6 in the morning.

All the passengers were serviced through the fully-sanitized Interim International Departures Terminal (IIDT), which was kept ready for this evacuation. A select group of support staff had been called in to ensure safe and seamless departure of the stranded passengers.

Special screening and safety measures had been put in place during the evacuation drive in accordance with the standard operating procedure for the Covid-19 pandemic. The passengers were thermally screened prior to their entry to the terminal. The procedure of mandatory social distancing was enforced through special queuing arrangements at all passenger processing points.

The passengers from Hyderabad were joined in the aircraft by a few already-seated German nationals, who had flown in from Chennai.

The special flight of Air India departed from Hyderabad for Mumbai at 9.22 am - their last halt before they were to be flown to Frankfurt in Germany. Air India operated this special flight to evacuate German nationals stranded in India due to lockdown enforced in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Earlier on March 28, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) of Hyderabad handled another special rescue flight of IndiGo on its mission to evacuate its crew stuck in Hyderabad.

IndiGo flight 6E 9999, a special Medical Evacuation Flight from Mumbai landed at RGIA on March 28 at around 02.30 pm with its crew of eight, who disembarked at RGIA and departed to Chennai with other five stranded IndiGo crew members at around 3.15 pm.

All the crew, who disembarked at RGIA were screened as per the Covid-19 procedures and their information was collected, recorded and shared with the Telangana health department as per the health guidelines.

Apart from undertaking evacuation duty, the RGIA is also busy in ensuring the supply of commodities. Its cargo terminal is fully operational acting as a vital link for maintaining a supply of essential goods.

The cargo terminal is working round the clock to keep rolling the critical chain of essential supplies such as medicines, vaccines, medical equipment, pharma raw materials, defense goods and articles required by banking services.