The Indian government today described as “unfair and unwarranted” the decision of Kuwaiti authorities to stop all flights from Kuwait to India and back. A spokesperson of the Union civil aviation ministry said that the move puts millions of Indians to hardship.

Currently, the India-Kuwait route is served by Air India and Indian from the Indian side and Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways from the Kuwait side. Air India flies four times a week to Mumbai from Kuwait city, and Indian has three flights a week to southern cities. Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways operate daily flights to Mumbai and some more to South Indian cities.

Last week, Kuwaiti authorities had threatened to call off all flights to and from that country to India, miffed at India’s “refusal” to allow more flights to India. However, India maintains that talks between the two countries are on, and Kuwait should not have taken the harsh step in the middle of talks.

According to the bilateral agreements between India and Kuwait, the number of seats per week was raised to 8,000 from 5,600. Kuwait now wants it increased to 12,000, a 50% rise. The Indian ambassador to Kuwait is currently in talks with the authorities in the Gulf country to find a way forward. The union civil aviation ministry has brought the issue to the notice of the external affairs ministry.

If there is no decision on the Kuwait-India flights front, hundreds of travellers in the sector will be forced to cancel or change their tickets to make the travel through a third country, probably UAE.

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