Kochi: A flight scheduled to bring back Keralites stranded in Qatar on Thursday has been rescheduled to Saturday, a spokesperson of Cochin International Airport said on Wednesday. Only a flight from Abu Dhabi would be landing here on Thursday, he said. He further said that one flight from Abu Dhabi and another from Qatar (Doha) were scheduled to land here on Thursday as part of the first phase of ''Vande Bharat'', the rescue mission to bring back Indians stranded abroad amidst COVID-19 lock down.
Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has selected 176 passengers in the priority list for the first Air India Express flight. Those who lost jobs, pregnant women, people whose visiting or employment visa expired and elderly people would be among the priority group. Cargo flights and special flights approved by the aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation were allowed to operate during the lock down period.
The repatriation flights would be conducted by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express to repatriate Indians from 12 countries; UAE, the UK, the USA, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, the spokesperson added.
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