22 flights, 17 destinations: Bengaluru facilitates transit for 3,000 foreigners

While the first evacuation from Bengaluru airport was to Frankfurt with Air India operating a flight on March 31, Tokyo emerged as the destination with the largest number of passengers, with JAL operating three flights over three consecutive days.

The other destinations to which passengers flew from Bengaluru include Incheon (South Korea), Azerbaijan, Baghdad, Cairo, Colombo, Doha, Frankfurt, London, Male, Muscat, Paris, Paro (Bhutan), Riyadh, Rome, Stockholm and Tbilisi (Georgia).

According to BIAL officials, this was the first time Bengaluru airport facilitated flights to eight new cities – Baku (Azerbaijan), Baghdad, Cairo, Incheon, Paro (Bhutan), Rome and Stockholm and Tbilisi (Georgia).

“These flights were coordinated between governments to help foreign nationals, stranded in Bengaluru and across south India due to the nation-wide lockdown, return home,” a BIAL spokesperson told Indianexpress.com.

Officials further added that the BIAL staff and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the airport worked with Immigration and Airline staff to ensure passengers maintained social distance and had access to hand sanitisers and masks.

In preparation for each of these flights, the terminal and other passenger touchpoints were cleaned, fumigated, and sanitised to ensure passenger safety.

<p “width=420″ lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&gt;#COVID19: Intense disinfection and sanitisation drive in progress at @BLRAirport premises. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/jyLzwikjo1— Express Bengaluru (@IEBengaluru) April 16, 2020

Earlier, BIAL had undertaken an intense cleaning and sanitisation drive across the airport, in a bid to safeguard the health of passengers and employees.

“Terminal, Airside, and Landside infrastructure have undergone multiple rounds of deep cleaning and disinfection. In addition, flooring across the Terminal has been polished, waiting to welcome passengers back,” the BIAL spokesperson added.