Air India flight carrying 200 Indians from Sharjah to arrive in Lucknow on May 9

Lucknow: An Air India flight with around 200 Indians from Sharjah will arrive in Lucknow on Saturday, an official said.

The Indian government on Monday had announced plans to begin phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad from May 7.

The government also said that Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

"An Air India flight is likely to arrive in Lucknow from Sharjah between 8.00 pm and 8.30 pm on Saturday.

"The tentative number of passengers arriving in Lucknow is 200," AK Sharma, the director of Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, told PTI on Friday.

India imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country, grounding all international flights since mid-March.

Under the repatriation plan, the government will be facilitating the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.