West Asia conflict: Indian carriers operate limited flights, cancel 281

New Delhi: Indian carriers Thursday continued limited flights from West Asia, mostly carrying passengers stranded in the region since the outbreak of the conflict. The major airports of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh however remained shut for regular commercial operations, forcing large-scale flight cancellations.

Indian airlines cancelled 281 flights on Thursday, according to government data.

Dubai-based Emirates announced the resumption of a "reduced flight schedule" with more than 100 flights on March 5-6, for the first time since the US and Israel conducted joint air strikes on Iran on February 28.


More than 100 flights are scheduled to depart and return from Dubai on Thursday and Friday. These would be transporting people eager to reach their final destinations, besides essential cargo such as perishables and pharmaceuticals, according to a statement from Emirates.

Budget airline Akasa Air on Wednesday said it would be operating a special flight from the UAE on Thursday to support the safe return of passengers and crew impacted by the prevailing situation, while also running select services to and from Saudi Arabia.

IndiGo, which has cancelled over 500 flights in the last few days, is also operating limited flights, the airline said. SpiceJet said it will run 13 special flights from the UAE on Thursday.

The number of international flights from India fell drastically at 382 on Wednesday. International networks of Indian carriers are heavily exposed to West Asia with around 35% of total seats deployed in the region.