Air India Express on Thursday announced the restoration of services to all its West Asia destinations – Salalah in Oman and Kuwait – which were halted due to the exchange of drone missiles during the US-Iran war.
Flights on the Kozhikode-Salalah route will resume from July 2, Air India Express said in a press release, adding that services between Kozhikode and Kuwait will resume from July 3, while flights between Bengaluru in Karnataka and Kuwait will begin from July 4.
The airline said that frequencies will increase in stages over the coming days.
The budget airline of the Air India group said that the Kozhikode-Salalah service will operate twice every week and added that services between Kozhikode and Kuwait will initially operate once a week from July 3, and then increase to three weekly flights from July 5.
Services from two Omani airports
With this resumption, Air India Express now operates from two airports in Oman: Muscat International Airport and Salalah International Airport.
Air India Express has also restored its flights between Muscat and Mangaluru in Karnataka from July 3, the press release said. The company operates about 40 weekly flights from Muscat to seven destinations in India.
Bengaluru-Kuwait flights will operate once a week from July 4 and will increase to three weekly flights from July 7.
The airline said that its flights to and from Kuwait will operate from Terminal 4 at Kuwait International Airport, and advised guests to book these flights on its website, airindiaexpress.com, mobile app, and other major booking channels.
Airlines around the world have restricted their services over West Asia after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 led to a full-scale war in which the two sides exchanged drones as well as missiles.
In another development, Air India Express last month said that bookings for its direct flights between Navi Mumbai International Airport and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, starting July 15, are now open on the airline’s website, mobile app and other key channels.
It said that the launch of direct air services between Navi Mumbai International Airport and Abu Dhabi will make Air India Express the first airline to operate international flights from the new Maharashtra airport.
