Dubai: As fear of war gripped the Gulf following US President George W Bush's 48- hour ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, national carriers Air India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA) are operating additional flights from Kuwait to carry Indian expatriates back home on an emergency basis.

Indian Airlines is operating an additional flight on March 19, while the Air India was trying to get a bigger aircraft to fly on March 20 to tackle an unexpected demand, K J S Sodhi, a senior diplomat with the Indian Embassy in Kuwait said.

"One of the companies here decided to send home 300 Indian workers fearing war and this has put additional pressure on demand. Except for this there is no sign of an exodus," Sodhi said.

However, the president of the Gulf Malayalees welfare association, Rajan Daniel said more people were willing to go back to India, but there were no seats available.

"The national carriers had assured that enough flights would be diverted to meet any surge in demand. But when it comes to the crunch, enough additional flights are not being operated," he said.

Sodhi said the Kuwait Civil Aviation Authority had informed that the airport would remain open as long as the safety of aircraft are not under threat. The Indian national carriers had no plans to stop flights, he added.

Meanwhile, the Indian community is worried whether the war will affect the conduct of the CBSE examinations. Some five exams are yet to be held on the request of the Indian mission. There are around four lakh Indian expatriates in Kuwait.

PTI