Flight operations to Europe resume

New Delhi, Apr 22 (PTI) Normal flight operations of
domestic and international carriers from India to western
countries started on Thursday with the opening of European
airspace almost after a week.
Air India's resumed normal services on sectors like
Delhi-London-Delhi, Delhi-Frankfurt-Delhi, Mumbai-London
-Mumbai, Delhi-New York-Delhi, Mumbai-New York-Mumbai,
Mumbai-Chicago-Mumbai, Amritsar-London-Toronto-London-Amritsar
and Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark-Mumbai on Thursday.
Friday, it would operate an additional Mumbai-London
-Mumbai flight with Boeing 747-400, which was used by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh for his trip to Brazil, to clear the
backlog of passengers.
Wednesday, Air India began its European operations
with the launch of its dailies from Delhi to Paris and
Frankfurt.
Jet Airways too resumed its flights to London from
Delhi and Mumbai and relaunched its hub operations at
Brussels. It would now connect Newark and Toronto with Delhi,
Mumbai and Chennai through Brussels.
Wednesday, the private carrier operated an additional
flight on Mumbai-London-Mumbai sector to clear the backlog of
passengers stranded at London's Heathrow airport, which
remained closed for almost week due to air traffic disruption
in the European airspace due to volcanic ash from Iceland.
Kingfisher Airlines will also start its normal
operations on Delhi-London and Mumbai-London sector.
"After the opening of UK airspace, Kingfisher Airlines
will commence its flights to and from London Heathrow from
today. The flights would be operated as per the normal
scheduled time unless otherwise advised by the Air Traffic
Control in UK or other countries in the flight path," an
airlines spokesperson said.
German carrier Lufthansa, French carrier Air France
and Swiss Airways have also resumed their normal services to
Munich, Amsterdam, Paris and Zurich.
The airlines have asked the passengers to get their
tickets confirmed before coming to the airport due to the
massive backlog.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA)
said the volcanic ash disruption had caused the airline
industry losses to the tune of USD 1.7 billion in the past six
days. About 1.2 million passengers were affected in the
process. PTI SMJ
MYR