Mangalore: UAKK & KORWA urge MP Nalin to restore AIE flights to Kuwait

By Louis Lobo
Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 3 Jul 2014: A delegation of United Associations of Karnataka Kuwait (UAKK) and Konkan Overseas Returnees Welfare Association (KORWA) visited  MP Naleen Kumar Kateel at his office here on Thursday July 3 morning, urging him to convince civil aviation minister in restoring direct flights on Kuwait and Mangalore sector.
 
The delegation said that more than 1,30,000 Kuwait-bound passengers from Mangalore, coastal Karnataka and Northern parts of Kerala are put to untold hardships and their flying time  now has been extended from 4 to 12 hours since Air India Express (AIE) discontinued their flight services to Kuwait - Mangalore sector from February 15 2014. The plight of the aged and families with small kids has become miserable as they have to transit through Mumbai or Bangalore. 

 

The delegation stated that all the flights to Kozhikode and Kochi are operating as usual. AIE would have continued the Kuwait/Mangalore/Kozhikode flight and could have explored other possible options, so that the travel hardships of Kuwait bound passengers from coastal Karnataka could have been avoided. The delegation wondered whether the flight destinations were changed intentionally from Kuwait/Mangalore/Kozhikode to Kuwait/Kozhikode/Kochi to prove the point of lack of load so that the flight could be cancelled under pressure from certain lobbies.

 

 

Suspension of Kuwait – Mangalore flights has caused hardships to thousands of NRIs from coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala and the delegation urged MP Naleen Kumar Kateel to take up the issue with union civil aviation minister to restore the Air India Express services or allow private airlines to operate their flights on this sector as soon as possible, to ensure that the region and its people do not suffer on account of abrupt withdrawal of Mangalore - Kuwait flight services.

The delegation included KORWA president Louis Lobo, vice president Elias Sanctis, UAKK chief co-ordinator Hassan Yusuf, Archie Menezes, KKMA co-ordinator S M Farooq, Jessie Pinto, David D Souza, John Tauro, Gretta Gomes, Dev Kumar and others.