The pilot was whisked away in a convoy by Indian officials away from the public glare.
According to IAF officials, he will be brought to Delhi from Amritsar in a special flight.
India had requested Pakistan to bring Abhinandan via air and even reportedly was mulling to send a special aircraft to Pakistan but Islamabad had insisted on releasing him via Wagah border.
Abhinandan was captured by the Pakistan army after he bailed out from his Mig 21 fighter jet following an intense dogfight to repel a Pakistani F-16 attack earlier this Wednesday.
The IAF pilot, defence forces said, shot down the jet which was on a mission to attack Indian military base. Abhinandan was then reportedly hit by a Beyond Visual Range missile launched by another PAF fighter jet. He successfully ejected himself but drifted towards the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
He fought his captors, fired into the air and swallowed important documents, before he was outnumbered and captured.
Pakistan later released videos of a blindfolded and bloodied Abhinadan; he was reportedly beaten up by the mob but was rescued by the Pakistan forces.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday announced that Varthaman will be released on Friday as "peace gesture".
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian fighters bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp near Balakot deep inside Pakistan early Tuesday.
It came 12 days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a JeM suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.
Following the bombing of the JeM training camp, the Pakistan Air Force carried out a retaliatory aerial combat, unsuccessfully targeting several Indian military installations.
