Instead, the Qantas Boeing 787 which touched down on Friday morning brought home 207 Australian who had been stranded in India due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

The repatriation flight was one four flights for Australians that will leave India between May 14 and May 20, organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The flight touched down at Canberra Airport just before 9am on Friday and was met by multiple health officials wearing hi-vis vests and personal protective equipment including face masks.

Passengers were let off the plane in small groups before being screened by health officials and customs.

A large police presence was also at the airport with the baggage claim at the arrivals hall closed off.

Rather than exit the airport at the arrivals hall, the passengers on the flight were then taken to Canberra hotels, where they will spend the next 14 days in quarantine.

The passengers were ferried onto seven Canberra buses, which were waiting on the tarmac next to the plane.

Passengers and the bus driver were seen wearing masks while on board.

One of the hotels being for quarantine is the East Hotel in Kingston with other hotels across Canberra expected to be used to house passengers.

Passengers will be monitored through the two-week period by ACT Health officials.

Those who aren't Canberra residents will then go back to their home state or territory once that quarantine is finished.

One passenger was taken to Canberra Hospital for non-coronavirus related reasons and was pre-planned.

The plane was then seen leaving the arrival gate just before 11am.

The passengers on this plane were some of the lucky ones. There are still hundreds of Australians who remain stranded in India due to strict lockdown measures and border closures.

Canberran Vishal Pandey is one of them. He tried booking a ticket on the repatriation flights but only received error messages when he tried to access the web booking system. It's a problem the Australian High Commission in India in hearing from plenty of people.

Mr Pandey travelled to India to visit his family for the festival of Holi in early March.

He was expecting to return in early April, but has not been able to get back.

"You have no idea how anxiously I tried to get on that flight," Mr Pandey said of the New Dehli to Canberra flight.

"I didn't realise it would affect me as much as it did."

Mr Pandey is living with his family about 260 kilometres outside of the Indian capital.

Since late March, he's been out of the house for about an hour and a half in total.

The lockdown in India has gone much further than Australia, with essential services only able to open for a few hours each day, and a strict curfew imposed on the population.

Mr Pandey said police with bamboo canes patrol the streets outside of curfew.

Mr Pandey moved to Canberra in 1995 to study and fell in love with the capital. He has lived here ever since.

Autumn, he said, is his favourite time of year.

"I don't call India home. India is where I was born but Australia is my home."