Mumbai: Civil Aviation secretary K Roy Paul on March 23 left for Kuwait by a
scheduled Air-India Boeing 747-200 flight (AI 853) for a first-hand assessment of
the situation in view of the US-led strikes in Iraq and to interact with the Indian
community there.
Commenting on his visit, Paul, who is also the Air India chairman, said he would
reassure the Indian community that the Centre was standing by them.
Additional capacity would be mounted by both AI and Indian Airlines (IA) if the
scheduled services prove inadequate, he added.
Meanwhile, 327 more Indians, including 14 infants, returned to Mumbai early March 23
morning by a Boeing flight. Over 80 seats were vacant, clearly indicating that the
capacity available on the Kuwait-India sector was much more that the number of
Indians wanting to come home, an AI spokesman said.
So far, a total of 3,200 Indians have returned home by scheduled and special flights
operated by AI and IA, apart from flying in by Kuwait Airways, with which AI has a
code sharing agreement, the spokesman added.
PTI
