DAMMAM, 30 April — Air-India has announced resumption of direct flights from Dammam to the south Indian city of Trivandrum next month.
According to Sunil Deshmukh, the airline’s manager for the Eastern Province, the first flight will depart from Cochin at 11 p.m. on May 20 (Sunday), will land in Trivandrum for a brief stopover and finally reach Dammam at 2.40 a.m. the next day. From Dammam, the airline will fly direct to Trivandrum at 4.50 a.m. on Monday.
The Indian community in the Eastern Province has for some time been demanding resumption of the direct flight to Trivandrum.
Deshmukh took up the matter with the regional office in Dubai as well as the headquarters in Bombay and eventually succeeded in getting it scheduled.
From Dammam, Air-India will now operate eight flights a week. It currently operates two weekly flights, Mondays and Thursdays, to Cochin and five flights to Bombay, one of which is via Delhi.
Indians from another south Indian city, Hyderabad, have also been calling for direct flights to their hometown. The airline, though, provides easy connections to Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, Air-India has completed transportation of relief materials meant for the victims of an earthquake that hit the western Indian province of Gujarat in January.
The relief supplies had been held up for nearly two months at warehouses here due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. On Friday, the airline transported the remaining cargo, including six tons of powdered milk donated by the Saudi New Zealand Dairy Company, to Ahmedabad. In all, the airline has airlifted 26.6 tons of relief materials.
Earlier reports indicated that there were nearly 70 to 80 tons of goods, mainly clothes, medicines, canned food, blankets and tents, awaiting transportation. The delay compelled volunteers of several community organizations to donate the goods collected but not shipped to Gujurat to international relief organizations. The International Islamic Relief Organization was one of the agencies which accepted relief materials originally meant for the earthquake victims.
Kanoo Cargo regional manager Abdul Rafwuiqe thanked people in the Eastern Province for their support and patience. Kanoo Cargo handled and transported the relief cargo to the King Fahd International Airport free of charge. National carrier Saudia waived handling charges for the relief goods.
