A federal government plane carrying 161 Syrian refugees touched down at Trudeau Airport Saturday night.

The plane landed at 8:21 p.m., according to the airport, and was coming from Lebanon. All are privately-sponsored refugees, and all but one person will be staying in Quebec. One person is going to stay in Prince Edward Island.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and federal Immigration Minister John McCallum were on hand to greet the refugees when they arrived less than 48 hours after a government aircraft brought 163 refugees to Toronto.

More than 400 refugees have arrived by commercial flights since the federal Liberals took power last month, but the refugees who arrived this week are the first to be brought by government aircraft.

Airport officials expect it will take four hours to process each planeload of passengers.

Refugees will go through two sets of immigration and customs interviews, and each person will have their fingerprints scanned to verify and track their identity. They will meet will federal health agents and their luggage will also be checked.

“The system is rigorous. It's stringent. There are not steps that have been cut out of the process,” Vito Vassallo of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said earlier this week.

The federal government plans to bring 10,000 Syrians to Canada by the end of this year, and 25,000 by the end of February.

Several organizations have been called upon to meet the basic needs of these refugees. The Canadian Red Cross has mobilized 40 full-time volunteers for the next three months.

The Red Cross has created a specific fund dedicated to helping refugees, and is asking for donations from the public. So far, $1.3 million has been collected.

-- with files from The Canadian Press