Bahrain Air resumes India flights after snag

Bahrain Air has announced the resumption of its flights to Trivandrum after the airline received written approvals from the Indian authorities.

Bahrain's second carrier was forced to temporarily halt flights on October 27, offering "unreserved apologies" to its customers.

But company officials said the Indian Civil Aviation, Indian Ministry of Transport and the Bahraini Ambassador in India had worked together to allow for flights to resume.
"We would also like to thank all those who supported and lobbied for these flights as it demonstrates the close links between Trivandrum and Bahrain," the carrier said in a statement.

The four flights per week resumed on Friday night with the first flight reaching Trivandrum early on Saturday morning.

The flights were temporarily suspended when no approval was received from the Indian authorities for the IATA winter season starting from October 28.

It was the second suspension of flights on the Trivandrum route after a landing rights dispute in April.

The airline finally got permission from the Indian authorities following two weeks of negotiations.

Bahrain Air launched the route from Bahrain to Thiruvananthapuram with a view to tapping the Indian market.

The CEO of the airline, Richard Nuttall, told Arabian Business in an interview earlier this year that India would be one of its strongest markets in 2012, given the high number of Keralites living in Bahrain and the high demand for flights between the two.

He added that the company hoped to sign a codeshare agreement with an Indian carrier in the next six to nine months in a bid to further boost the number of services to Indian cities and bolster the company’s revenues.