First Evacuation Flight from Saudi Arabia to Hyderabad on May 20

Jeddah: Scores of NRIs from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh stranded in Saudi Arabia amid of coronavirus-induced lockdown have cheering news as officials preparing to operate repatriation flight from Jeddah to Vijayawada from there to Hyderabad.

“The maiden flight AI1914 to Vijayawada is scheduled to depart on May 20 from Jeddah and terminates at Vijayawada, then AI 1407 flight originates from Vijayawada for Hyderabad”, according to Chandan Prabhu, western region manager of Air India.

The flight is part of Mission Vande Bharat and aircraft A-320 is likely to carry 150 passengers to Hyderabad and Vijayawada, he added.

Air India operating flights but Indian diplomatic missions that decides who should fly in it. More than 60,000 Indians have registered with Indian missions in Saudi Arabia to return home, among them significant number are pregnant women hailing from Kerala, who works as paramedics.

The national carrier operating five special flights from Saudi Arabia to Kerala and other parts of the country as part of the Mission Vande Bharat. Hyderabad was not among those destination, however, it is included in second phase of the operation.

In the first phase of the Gulf- Hyderabad segment of the ”Mission Vande Bharat- A homecoming”, two flights operated from Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. The second phase is gaining momentum as first phase coming to end.