The Hindu Business Line : Air India special flights bring passengers from Kuwait

THE three special flights operated by Air India have flown in around 1,000 passengers from Kuwait. A fourth special flight, which was operated with an A310, was expected to return to Mumbai late on Thursday evening.

According to the airline, two of the special flights returned on Thursday morning with 372 and 396 passengers, respectively. The third flight landed at Kochi on the return flight to Mumbai.

A spokesman for Air India said the arrival of the flights was delayed due to congestion at Kuwait airport and a breakdown in conveyor belts, resulting in passengers' baggage being left behind. Efforts were on to transport the baggage in subsequent scheduled flights to the extent capacity was available, the spokesman added.

Meanwhile, Indian Airlines is operating a special flight at 11.30 p.m. from Kuwait on Thursday evening. The flight is expected back in Mumbai at 6 a.m. on Friday. The ferry flight will be operated with a 145-seater Airbus A320 aircraft.

According to the airline, a flight on its Muscat-Kochi-Chennai sector halted at Kuwait on Wednesday to pick up 104 passengers from the city-state. The airline's flights to the Gulf were being operated according to the existing schedule, it added.

Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, is continuing to operate normal services despite the start of hostilities in Iraq.

The airline has put up additional Web pages to provide updated information on any changes in its scheduled flights as a result of military activity in the region.

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