We did not know what to expect. We knew refuelling would be available, but that was about it When Air India’s first evacuation flight to Wuhan began its descent on a night sky on 31 January, the captain and crew had no idea what to expect.
Even for a veteran like Capt. Amitabh Singh, Air India’s then operations chief who piloted the Boeing 747, evacuation from an epidemic hotspot was a first, coming just a month before the end of an illustrious career during which he had brought back Indians during the first Gulf War, airlifted the first relief supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nepal and ferried security personnel to Srinagar after the abrogation of Article 370.