Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, May 13: With the Vande Bharat Mission in progress, repatriation of Indians abroad has been underway. One of such flights were scheduled to bring back NRIs belonging to Karnataka. Amid tensions rising, to provide a sense of comfort to the passengers, an Air India pilot assigned to the Karnataka flight made announcements in state language Kannada.
On May 12, the first evacuation flight landed at Mangaluru International Airport from Dubai with 177 passengers on board.
Meanwhile, before the flight could take off the Air India pilot of the particular flight made specific announcements to the passengers.
Initially, he began announcing in English, however, he soon switched to Kannada saying, "My dear brothers and sisters, Air India welcomes you, I request you forgive me if I make any errors while speaking Kannada."
He continued saying, "My team and I are proud to be a part of Vande Bharat Mission initiated by government of India. For your safety, kindly co-operate with our staff as well as with the staff at Mangaluru airport."
Pratyush Vyas was identified as the captain of the flight. The first officer was Rishabh Shukla, along with the team senior cabin crew member Baburaj Mullacherry, Reena Dhanpal, Kanti Kumari Gari and Aswathi Unnikrishnan.
The flight carrying 177 passengers, included 40 pregnant women, 2 infants had landed safely at Mangalore International Airport on Tuesday, May 12 at 10.10 pm.