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Airlines monitoring situation

Kuwait was the only sector which was affected yesterday, according to the flight operations department at the Dubai International Airport. A Gulf Air flight from Dubai which was scheduled to depart to Kuwait at 2.25pm was cancelled. Another Gulf Air flight at 6.25pm flight from Kuwait was likewise cancelled. An Air Lanka flight that was scheduled to leave Kuwait at 10.20pm to Dubai got cancelled.

Gwen Jones, PR Manager, Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia at British Airways said that it operated normal flight schedules yesterday. "We continue to review the situation very closely and will make appropriate changes to our operation and our schedule, based on our own monitoring and advice from the UK government," she told Khaleej Times.

She said that British Airways had a number of comprehensive contingency plans in place, including moving its crew base following a change in Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice for UK nationals travelling to Bahrain, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in February.

"More recently, we suspended our daily service between Kuwait and London Heathrow with effect from March 19. This was in light of the FCO issuing advice for UK nationals in Kuwait to leave the country immediately," Jones said, adding that safety and security of the customers will always be a priority, and that British Airways will never operate any flight or to any destination unless it is satisfied that it is totally safe to do so.

Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, is continuing to operate normal services despite the start of hostilities in Iraq. The airline went live with additional web site pages, set up to provide full information, updated regularly, on any changes which may be made to its scheduled flights as a result of military activity in the region. All operations to Kuwait yesterday had been temporarily suspended.

Maurice Flanagan, Emirates' Group Managing Director, said: "Safety remains a top priority. The airline will monitor the situation 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure, in every way we can, the well-being of our flight and cabin crews and our passengers.

"We are using alternative routes where necessary. These are well-established and recognised as safe by all international aviation authorities. Emirates has never flown over Iraq, even under normal conditions, and none of our routes take our aircraft anywhere near that country."

From Dubai, there are a number of different air routes eastwards and westwards which are long-established and recognised by international authorities. An airline's use of alternative routes is not restricted to times of conflict. Sometimes a routing is varied to avoid poor weather conditions.

During the past few months, Emirates has prepared meticulous plans to route aircraft heading east and west along corridors which are safe and secure even in the event of military activity in Iraq.

• UAE