The 232 foreign tourists, including 180 Germans and those from the other countries in European Union, stranded in Kerala following the ban on international flights and the 21-day lockdown to contain COVID-19 were evacuated on Tuesday morning.
A chartered flight of Air India, AI 3003, carrying the tourists and the crew, took off from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport at 9.40 a.m. to Frankfurt. The Boeing 777-300 ER made a brief technical stopover at the Mumbai international airport for refuelling and later proceeded to Frankfurt.
This is among the five chartered flights to be operated by Air India to Frankfurt on Tuesday from various Indian airports to evacuate German nationals and other EU nationals stranded in the country. The AI 1667 flight arrived from Mumbai here at 8 a.m. as a ferry aircraft and will return from Frankfurt as a ferry aircraft.
The tourists, who were staying overnight in the State-owned Kerala Tourism Development Corporation’s Mascot Hotel, Samudra at Kovalam and Chaithram at Thampanoor were shifted in six buses by 6 a.m. to the international terminal to complete the Customs, Immigration and Health check-up at the airport.
All praise
Anja Ross Kuntz and Anja Burger from Germany, who were staying in KTDC’s Bolghatty Palace Kochi who were among the flyers, thanked the Kerala Tourism for the excellent hospitality and arrangements during their stay here.
“The KTDC staff were courteous, food was excellent and it was a good experience for us”, they said.
Although the aircraft can accommodate 300 passengers, there were only 232 to board the flight. The 52 non-Germans were accommodated on their request and they will be going to their home country after reaching Frankfurt, sources said.
A team led by Biju. B. S., Deputy Director, Marketing, Kerala Tourism; Tourist Information Officer, Sajeev K.R., Kannan Nair, First Officer of the Consulate of Federal Republic of Germany; AAI and AI officials worked overnight to make the arrangements for a hassle-free return for the holidayers.
