National carrier Air India's first evacuation flight to Karnataka from London landed in this tech city, with 326 passengers who are citizens of the southern state," an official said on early Monday.

"The A-I 1803 Boeing-777-337 (ER) from London landed at the Kempegowda international airport at 4.41 a.m., with 326 passengers, including 3 infants," a state government official told IANS here.

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.

Nearly a hour after landing, the passengers were ferried in special buses to star hotels for the mandatory 14-day quarantine amid the lockdown enforced on March 25 and extended twice up to May 17 to contain the coronavirus spread in the country.

State Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, a doctor by profession, was at the airport in the wee hours to receive the returnees and guide them in completing the formalities.

As part of the Indian government's evacuation programme a Vande Bharat Mission, three more repatriation A-I flights are due to land in Bengaluru from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, San Francisco in the US and Singapore on May 13-15 with over 600 state citizens.

Two A-I Express flights are slated to land at Mangaluru airport on the state's west coast on May 13-14, with about 350-400 returnees from Gulf region.

First Published:May 11, 2020 7:37 AM IST