As many as 178 expatriates from Muscat reached Coimbatore on Saturday on a repatriation flight operated by Air India Express.
The flight landed at the airport at 6.50 p.m. It is the fourth such flight operated by Air India Express to Coimbatore, after two services from Singapore and one from Dubai.
The Airports Authority of India, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Revenue Department and the Health Department had made arrangements for the passengers.
Swabs of all the passengers were collected by the Health Department staff for COVID-19 testing.
The returnees were directed to remain in paid institutional quarantine for seven days. After that, passengers who test negative for COVID-19 will be allowed to go home. They will then have to remain under home quarantine for seven days.
Two more repatriation flights, from Singapore and Doha, are scheduled to arrive in Coimbatore on June 14 and 23, respectively.
