New Delhi: Government has decided to suspend Air India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA) flights to Bahrain, Dammam and Kuwait as soon as the war breaks out in Iraq, which would lead the two carriers to suffer an aggregate loss of about Rs 140 crore per month.

Stating this, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters that there was also a possibility of raising the fares of the two carriers by about 10 per cent due to the hike in prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by about 44 per cent since December 2002.

Stating that the two carriers would suffer from a "two-pronged attack" if the war breaks out, he said while the ATF prices would rise substantially, AI and IA would have to make a detour of over 90 minutes to circumvent the war zone.

While AI was estimated to suffer a loss of about Rs 70 crore, IA's loss would be about Rs 40 crore.

"As it is, we are suffering a loss of Rs 40 crore a year due to restrictions on flying over Pakistani airspace, while the flying time has increased due to this by at least one hour," Hussain said.

On top of it, the travel industry has estimated that about 30 per cent of tourists coming into India would cancel their visits, he said, adding that flights to Europe and the US would be the most affected.

PTI