Kolkata: For the first time since the outbreak of war in West Asia, two aircraft took off from Kolkata for the region on Saturday. While one was a passenger flight, the other was a freighter. The count would have been three had a drone attack near Dubai airport not forced suspension of operations that held up an Emirates Airlines flight that was scheduled to reach Kolkata on Saturday evening. It finally took off on Saturday evening with over 200 passengers and is expected to reach Kolkata around midnight.FlyDubai flight FZ 461 touched down in Kolkata at 12.53am on Saturday and brought back 163 passengers. This was only the second flight to reach the city from the war zone. On Thursday, another FlyDubai flight flew back 130 passengers. Return flight FZ 462 took off with 92 passengers at 1.59am. On Thursday, there were only 55 passengers on the departing flight.A Qatar Airways Boeing B 777-200 cargo aircraft, which was diverted to Kolkata on Feb 28 after the airspace in Qatar was shut down following counter-strikes by Iran, also took off for Jeddah at 3.58 am on Saturday after the situation appeared to improve following an announcement by Iran that it would not target neighbouring countries and apologised for the recent attacks.However, hours later on Saturday morning, an Iranian drone attack near the main terminals of Dubai International Airport forced a temporary suspension of operations. Emirates flight EK 572, which was scheduled to fly to Kolkata on Saturday evening, was among scores of flights that were held up. Booked on the flight were at least 12 holidayers who were part of a 30-member group from Kolkata. Bangur Avenue resident and businessman Govind Nag, who, along with his wife Sutapa and son Shagnik, managed to return to the city on Saturday via Hyderabad, expressed concern over the uncertainty his fellow holidayers were facing. “We were part of a 30-member group that reached Dubai on Feb 27 to tour the UAE until March 5. We just saw Burj Khalifa when the war broke out. Though Dubai functions normally during the day, it is tense thereafter, with sirens going off, warning of drone or missile attacks. The streets would be deserted. I managed to book tickets on an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad on Friday,” Nag recounted. Early on Saturday, flight movements from Abu Dhabi and Dubai raised hopes of gradual normalisation of services between Kolkata and West Asian hubs Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. With five airlines — Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, FlyDubai and Air Arabia —operating 34 flights a week between Kolkata and hubs in the Gulf, most flyers to the region and beyond to Europe and the US travelled on these airlines.“The war disrupted travel everywhere, but it hit Kolkata more than other major cities as there are no direct flights to Europe and the US from here,” explained Travel Agents Association of India chairman (East) Anjani Dhanuka.An official of a Gulf carrier said that while the airline is keen to resume flights, airspace safety will determine whether flights will operate or continue to be cancelled.
