Mumbai airport facilitates evacuation of over 3,700 stranded foreigners in 21 days

The Mumbai airport on Wednesday said it has helped in the evacuation of over 3,700 foreign nationals to their respective countries with 20 repatriation flights during the first phase of nationwide lockdown to halt Coronavirus spread. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in a statement said it has facilitated the operation of flights carrying stranded passengers from Mumbai to London, Atlanta, Frankfurt, Singapore, Paris and Tokyo among other international destinations.

CSMIA has maintained seamless cargo operations

"GVK-MIAL managing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) evacuated over 3,700 passengers with 20 repatriation flights between 25th March - 14th April 2020," the statement read. Besides this, CSMIA has maintained seamless cargo operations and has managed close to 240 cargo flight movements over the lockdown period that commenced on March 25. The cargo operations at CSMIA have recorded the highest number of exports and import delivery of cargo in a single day in India.

Following the directive issued by the Central Government to combat the Coronavirus outbreak, all commercial passenger flights suspended in a bid to stop the spread of the global pandemic, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said Furthermore, the Mumbai airport has recorded the highest number of exports and import delivery of cargo in a single day in India, MIAL said without sharing any specific numbers

In the purview of the recent outbreak, the airport said that it has taken all the precautionary measures to ensure passenger safety while boarding and arriving at the airport. The airport has put up a stringent screening process right from the time passengers enter the airport to the time they board their flight, and the same process has been implemented for the arriving passengers as well.

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Just after the national lockdown was extended for another two weeks, all domestic and international airlines have also been suspended till May 3. The death toll due to Coronavirus rose to 392 with 39 fatalities reported since Tuesday evening, while the number of cases saw a jump of 1,118 to go up to 11,933 on Wednesday, according to the Union Health Ministry. As many as 1,343 people were cured and discharged, and one has migrated, it said. A single day highest increase of 1,463 cases was recorded on Tuesday.

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(With agency inputs)