100 US citizens, 72 of UAE airlifted from Hyderabad

Hyderabad, April 22 (IANS) One hundred US citizens and 72 of the United Arab Emirates were airlifted from Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport by two different aircraft on Wednesday.The US nationals were flown by Air India's special flight to Delhi for the onward journey to the US while UAE nationals were airlifted to Sharjah by a special flight of Air Arabia.According to a spokesman of GMR-led Airport, special passenger relief flight of Air India arrived from Delhi and after picking up the US nationals returned to Delhi at 7.23 p.m. As per the flight itinerary, the passengers of this flight were to be further airlifted by the United Airlines from Delhi to the US.Air Arabia flight, which arrived from Sharjah via Cochin, departed with 72 UAE nationals at 9.01 p.m. to Sharjah.The passengers of both the flights were serviced through the fully-sanitized Interim International Departures Terminal (IIDT), which has been kept ready for evacuation operations.In coordination with the US and UAE Consulates, Hyderabad and the Telangana government, the US and UAE citizens reached the airport from different places in Hyderabad.Special screening and safety measures were in place during the flights' handling to protect against the Covid-19 threat.With Wednesday's two flight, Hyderabad Airport has so far handled 10 evacuation flights serving over 750 foreign nationals who were repatriated to countries like the UK, the UAE, the US and Germany.
--IANS ms/vd