Middle East tensions: Kerala flights and airports latest updates

As tensions escalate in the Middle East, flyers continue to be stranded in various Kerala airports, too, with multiple flights getting cancelled. As there is no sign of peace in the near future, the usually busy international terminals wear a deserted look across the state. At the Cochin International Airport, around 27 flights from regions like Muscat, UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain; and 31 Gulf-bound flights have been cancelled as per the latest advisory.

A flight from Muscat, scheduled to arrive on March 3, has also been cancelled. Around 20 flights from the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport have been cancelled today. 12 inbound and one outbound flights from the Calicut International Airport stand cancelled as per their latest update. Around five flights from the Kannur international airport are also cancelled as of now, according to their website. 

Flights to use alternate routes
Air India plans to operate its flights to North America and Europe via alternate routes. That said, six flights to and from various European cities, including the Amritsar-Birmingham and Birmingham-Delhi flights, stand cancelled today. Air India Express and Indigo have also extended the suspension of their flights to the Middle East regions till 12.59 pm today. Singapore Airlines has cancelled flights to and from Dubai through March 7. Its low-cost airline Scoot also cancelled flights to and from Jeddah through March 7. Qatar Airlines said it has temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha due to the closure of Qatari airspace. 

Help for stranded Indians
At a time when hundreds of Indians are stranded in Dubai, Doha and other key hub airports, with many of them taking to social media to appeal to the Indian government for assistance, India's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has directed all concerned departments to take necessary and feasible measures to assist Indian nationals affected by the West Asian developments. There are around 10,000 Indian citizens who live, study and work in Iran, while over 40,000 live in Israel. The number of Indians who live in the Gulf and West Asia is about 9 million.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters)