Mumbai: More than 400 Indians, many with their families, returned from Kuwait early
March 22 by a scheduled Air India Boeing 747-200 flight (AI 858).
A Boeing 747 was operated instead of the 200-seater Airbus A310 to fly home 422
passengers, including 13 infants, an airline spokesman said on March 22.
The deployment of a larger aircraft not only enabled carriage of more passengers but
also facilitated bringing in baggage of passengers who had arrived in Mumbai on the
first two special flights on March 20 without their checked baggage, he said.
Baggage was not loaded on the first two special flights due to breakdown of conveyor
belts at Kuwait airport on the day the flights were operated, the spokesman said,
adding all concerned passengers were being advised to contact Air India office at
Sahar airport to make arrangements for collection of their baggage.
Meanwhile, AI has decided to operate its scheduled flight (AI 851/850) later on
March 22 night with a Boeing 747-200, instead of an A310, to provide more
capacity.
The spokesman said adequate capacity was being provided to meet the demand and its
offices in the Gulf region were closely monitoring the situation.
PTI
