Vande Bharat Mission: First Air India flight brings 225 Indians from US

Under the government's 'Vande Bharat' Mission to bring back stranded Indians abroad, Air India on Sunday brought back at least 711 people on Monday.

First Air India special flight, which took off from San Francisco with 225 Indians on board, landed in Mumbai on early Monday.

The passengers departed from San Francisco International Airport on Saturday (local time).

"First AI spl flight from the US brings in 225 Indians from San Francisco to Mumbai. Thank @airindiain @MoCA_GoI and Maharashtra Govt for support and coordination. Great work by CG Sanjay Panda and Team @CGISFO," External Affair Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

On day two of repatriation of stranded Indians from the US, Air India flight will take off from Newark to Mumbai and Ahmedabad on Sunday (local time).

Around 25,000 Indians have registered with the country's mission in the US for repatriation flights.

In Karnataka, Air India's first evacuation flight from London landed in Bengaluru, with 326 passengers.

The flight was over 101 minutes behind schedule, as it flew via New Delhi where it took off at 2.23 a.m.

All passengers were seen wearing mask and maintaining physical distance while coming out of the aircraft through the aero-bridge and till exiting the airport after thermal screening, testing and filling the self-declaration form about their travel history, health status and other details for contact tracing.

Also the Indians, who were stranded in the Philippines, have arrived in Mumbai, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

He added that 139 Indians from Riyadh and 21 from Uzbekistan have also arrived in New Delhi.

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, India is conducting 'Vande Bharat' Mission -- its biggest ever repatriation exercise since independence -- to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, including from the US, the UAE and the UK.

Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries in the coming days.