Hyderabad, May 18 (IANS) Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Monday handled a departure repatriation flight for Omani nationals stranded in the city.

A relief charter flight of Star Air with 28 passengers departed for Mumbai at 7.12 a.m. As per the flight itinerary, these passengers were to be airlifted by an Air India Express flight to Oman, airport sources said.

All departing passengers were serviced through the fully sanitised Interim International Departures Terminal (IIDT) as per all safety protocol in place.

Special screening and safety measures were in place during the flight's handling to protect against the Covid-19 threat including thermal screening prior to terminal entry, and mandatory social distancing enforced through special queuing arrangements at all passenger processing points.

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, the airport has been handling evacuation flights for both arrivals and departures. So far the airport has handled 14 departures evacuations flights facilitating over 1000 foreign nationals stranded in Hyderabad to various countries.

The airport has also handled nine arrival evacuations flights under the first phase of the Government's Vande Bharat Mission facilitating arrival of about 1,500 Indian citizens from various foreign destinations.

Under the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission, the first flight from Muscat to Hyderabad is expected to land on Monday evening.

Bharat Evacuation Mission Air India Express IX 818 from Muscat (Oman) is expected to land with Indian citizens at 5.35 p.m.