Nedumbassery: Air India Express pilots and crew said they were proud to be part of the historical mission to bring back the stranded Indian nationals from the Gulf amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first officer and three of the cabin crew of the Abu Dhabi-Kochi Air India Express 419 flight are Keralites. Anshul Shiromg was the caption of the plane, while Keralites Rizwin Nazer was the first officer captain and Deepak Menon was the cabin-crew-in-charge.
Anjana Johnny, Riyanka Santhosh, and Tashi Bhutia were the other cabin crew members.
Anshul had earlier taken part in rescue missions while he was a pilot with the Coast Guard and this experience helped him lead Thursday’s mission. "All expats are like our family members. There are challenges in the mission. But we have received training to face these," the captain said.
Deepak said that he had no qualms about the becoming part of the mission.
Riyanka and Anjana said that their family members were apprehensive initially but that they were aware of the importance of the mission.
‘Mission for family’
The 26-year-old Rizwin Nazer, first officer captain, had lived in the Gulf for long. A native of Fort Kochi, Rizwin's schooling till class X was held in Sharjah. He still has several friends and relatives in the Gulf countries.
Rizwin said that he was proud to be part for the rescue mission. "It is like bringing back family members Not just for me, even my friends and teachers from the Gulf school are extremely happy for this," Rizwin said.
‘Proud to be part of mission’
Keralite Alby Thomas, co-pilot captain of the Air India Express Doha flight, also said that he was extremely proud to be part of the Vande Bharat mission.
A native of Kanjirappally, Alby is the son of former Kottayam district panchayat president Thomas Kunnappally. The Doha flight, which was scheduled for Thursday, was postponed to Saturday.
The crew were giving training on the precautions to be taken during the journey on Wednesday. When the plane returns with the evacuees, all the crew have to wear the personal protective gear.
Keralites Anup Joseph, P Ashwini, Brian Britto, and Shibu Asharaf are the cabin crew members for Saturday's Doha flight.