The first Air India chartered flight with 115 passengers from the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) took off Kolkata Airport on Tuesday.

The foreigners remained stranded in Kolkata due to cancellation of all international flights as a preventive measure to contain the spread of COVID19.

Sharing a few images, the Kolkata Airport on its Twitter handle stated that standard procedures were followed and precautions were taken to ensure the safe travel of the foreign passengers amid COVID19 restrictions.

Kolkata Airport tweeted: “#CoronaUpdate: @airindiain charter flight from #KolkataAirport to #Frankfurt took off today with 115 passengers, comprising of EU & UK citizens, on board. Standard procedure followed and precautions taken to assure safe travel amid #COVID19 restrictions.”

#CoronaUpdate: @airindiain charter flight from #KolkataAirport to #Frankfurt took off today with 115 passengers, comprising of EU & UK citizens, on board. Standard procedure followed and precautions taken to assure safe travel amid #COVID19 restrictions.#Coronaindia@DGCAIndia pic.twitter.com/StCP201Fr6 — Kolkata Airport (@aaikolairport) March 31, 2020

According to sources, the Air India chartered flight left Kolkata Airport marking the first fight of the four-day evacuation process.

Reports said the flight took off at 9:30 am on Tuesday morning and was bound to reach Frankfurt after a brief stopover at the IGI Airport in the national capital.

Informing about the evacuation on its Twitter handle, the British Deputy High Commission Kolkata said: “UK is flying back British nationals from Kolkata and beyond to their homes in a chartered flight from Kolkata Airport today.”

“Our Deputy High Commissioner @nickdlow with his team in Kolkata Airport this morning,” it added.