Vande Bharat Mission: AI flight with Indians onboard to take off from Newark today

Newark [US], May 11 (ANI): On day two of repatriation of stranded Indians from the United States, Air India flight carrying Indian citizens will take off from Newark to Mumbai and Ahmedabad on Sunday (local time).
Air India flight AI 144 will take off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 11:55 pm (local time) to Mumbai and then onwards to Ahmedabad. The flight will bring Indians stuck in the US due to coronavirus pandemic back home.
Ticket issuance, thermal screening and security checks have begun. All passengers on board are picked through a systematic lottery system, only those with compelling reasons are on board.
Around 25,000 Indians have registered with the country's mission in the US for repatriation flights.
During phase one of the evacuation process, which began on Saturday in the US, seven flights will take off evacuating fifteen hundred citizens from different part of India, the rest will be accommodated in the next coming phase of Vande Bharat Mission.
The next flight from Newark Liberty International Airport will be on May 14, heading to Delhi and onwards to Hyderabad.
Yesterday, Air India's first Mumbai-bound repatriation flight departed from San Francisco International Airport under the Government of India's Vande Bharat mission.
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, India is conducting 'Vande Bharat' Mission -- its biggest ever repatriation exercise since independence -- to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, including from the US, the UAE and the UK.
Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries in the coming days. (ANI)