Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Amid an elusive ceasefire in the West Asia war, air connectivity to the most cut off parts of the region has begun resuming very gradually and tentatively. Sunday saw the first direct flights out of Kuwait after Feb 28 to India and some other countries. As of now, Kuwait’s Jazeera is making weekly plans to see how the situation in the region evolves. Gulf Air flights had begun operating between Bahrain International Airport and destinations in India since April 21. UAE, however, is yet to open its doors to foreign carriers, including those from India for this summer.Indians are the largest exit community in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. While Bahrain and Kuwait had been the worst hit in terms of aerial connectivity, Qatar and UAE have seen limited flights. Only Oman and Saudi have scheduled services. “The Saudi airspace is now open almost fully as of now and is at pre Feb 28 level,” said a senior official of an Indian airline. Iran is also planning to open its airspace.“Happy to be on the first flight to India as flight operations from Kuwait International Airport reopens (Sunday). India stands in solidarity with Kuwait,” said Paramita Tripathi, Indian ambassador to Kuwait, on X Sunday when low cost Jazeera Airways resumed first direct flights after 57 days of Kuwait International Airport closure. On Day One, it operated flights to Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul and Mumbai from Kuwait. It will start flying to Delhi and Kochi, among other places, this week from Kuwait.Jazeera Airways’ Indian origin CEO Barathan Pasupathi told TOI: “The network (out of Kuwait) will grow gradually. We are operating the Kuwait airport from 8 am to 4 pm as per guidelines. For this week we are flying direct to Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi with 14 flights. To and from all other (Indian) cities, we operating via Dammam. We will gradually move to direct.” The airline had started operating flights to and from Saudi’s Dammam after Feb 28.As part of the temporary operational procedures, passengers were asked to update their passport information 12 hours prior to their flight. Jazeera’s Pasupathi added: “Sunday’s departures from Jazeera Terminal 5 mark a defining milestone in our return to direct connectivity from Kuwait. This goes beyond the resumption of these six routes. It represents the restoration of direct connectivity for our community and a reaffirmation of our role in keeping people and essential supply chains moving from and to Kuwait.” Till May 2, Jazeera Airways has scheduled 48 flights to Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Mumbai, Amman, Damascus, Delhi, Kochi, Jeddah and Riyadh. The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia has begun preparations for Haj visitors from the country. “Ambassador Suhel Khan visited Makkah and oversaw arrangements for Indian Haj pilgrims. He also received the first batch of Indian pilgrims arriving in Makkah from Madinah by train,” it said on X Sunday.
