Amsterdam-Delhi flight with 120 Indians turned back due to coronavirus restrictions

The Netherlands' KLM Airlines on Saturday said its Amsterdam-Delhi flight with 120 Indians on board was turned back due to "conflicting" information on flight restrictions imposed by the Indian authorities.

According to sources, the plane had transit passengers from the US and the UK too, and there was confusion over whether such passengers can disembark on Indian soil as they were not taking direct flights and their segregation could be difficult.

The Central government has announced that it would not allow any international commercial passenger flight to land in India from Sunday onward for a period of one week.

"On March 20, FlightKL871from Amsterdam to Delhi had to be redirected to Schiphol due to conflicting information on entry restrictions in the country. 120 passengers on board this aircraft are residents of India, who were on their way to Delhi via a transfer at Schiphol, and are now on airside at Schiphol," the Dutch airline said in a statement.

In the current situation with government regulations changing rapidly,KLM said it "ensures to abide and respect" the regulations put in place by the Indian authorities.

The airline said it will fly these passengers only if afinal agreement is provided by the authorities in India.

"KLM is committed to doing everything it can torepatriate as many travellers as possible," the statement said.

"KLM will re-operate flight KL872 for the passengers in Delhi who were supposed to return to Amsterdam on the above mentioned flight for a departure on the night of March 22," it added.