KOCHI: With Iran and Israel having agreed upon a ceasefire a few hours back, flight services to the Gulf and Middle East regions resumed from Kerala on Tuesday noon, a development which will come as a boon to many Malayalis stranded abroad.
"The flight operations to the Gulf sector have resumed. But since a majority of them are operating at night usually, the services will return to normal later today," said a spokesperson of the Cochin International Airport Ltd.
CIAL operates the most flights to the Gulf sector, especially destinations like Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, from Kerala.
The airlines too confirmed the resumption of services, but said it would take some time for the operations to return to normal, citing factors like flight availability and clearance of passenger backlogs.
A number of flight services operated by the various airlines from airports across Kerala had been delayed, rerouted or cancelled, since Monday evening, in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.
The cancelled flights from Kochi included AI 953 (COK-DOH), SG 018 (COK-DXB), 6E 1403 (COK-AUH), 6E 1493 (COK-RKT), 6E 1271 (COK-MCT), 6 E 1272 (MCT-COK), 6E 1206/055 (BAH-COK-DMM), SG 017 (DXB-COK), 6 E 1404 (AUH-COK), AI 933 (COK-DXB), AI 934 (DXB=COK, IX 494 (KWI-COK), IX 441 (COK-MCT), IX 476 (DOH-COK), IX 475 (COK-DOH), IX 442 (MCT-COK) and IX 461 (COK-KWI).
Air India Express, which had earlier temporarily suspended flights to the region, resumed the services.
"..We regret the inconvenience due to circumstances beyond our control and request guests to update their contact details for real time updates and check their flight status on airindiaexpress.com or chat with Tia for cancellations and refund options,” an Air India Express spokesperson said on Tuesday morning.