Manama: Gulf Air, Bahrain's major airline, on Saturday said that all its flights to and from Heathrow, Paris CDG and Frankfurt airports have been cancelled “until further notice.”
“Due to Icelandic volcanic ash over European airspace, several airports in Europe have now been closed. Gulf Air passengers holding confirmed tickets on disrupted flights to/from these airports should not come to the departing airports without checking their flight status on gulfair.com,” the company said.
“Travellers can rebook their travel, subject to seat availability, to a later date without incurring fees or penalties or service charges. Passengers holding confirmed tickets on disrupted flights can also claim full or partial refund. No cancellation, refund, service charges, fees or penalties will be imposed.”
However, Gulf Air warned callers that they might experience long waiting time in getting their calls answered due to large number of incoming calls.
The airline said that it was closely monitoring the developments and was in constant contact with the respective aviation authorities and meteorological services to respond at short notice.
In Doha, Qatar Airways has cancelled 42 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday to and from European destinations.
“Check-in would not be available to and from Northern and Central Europe due to the current uncertainty surrounding the operation of some flights,” the company said on Saturday. “Flights scheduled to operate on April 17 to London, Munich, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Manchester, Geneva, Berlin, Zurich, Vienna and Copenhagen have been cancelled.”
In Kuwait, all airlines cancelled their flights to Britain and other European countries due to an ash cloud spewing from a volcano in Iceland.
On Friday, Lufthansa’s flight no. 637 from Kuwait to Frankfurt and British Airways’ flight no. 156 to London were cancelled.
Flights scheduled for Saturday, including KLM’s flight no. 0447 to Amsterdam, Lufthansa’s flight no. 637 to Frankfurt and British Airways’ flight no. 156 to London were also cancelled, Kuwaiti daily Arab Times reported.
Inbound Lufthansa’s flight no 636 from Frankfurt and KLM’s flight no. 447 from Amsterdam scheduled to arrive on Friday were cancelled while British Airways’ flight no. 157 from London also scheduled for Saturday was cancelled. No decision has been taken for flights scheduled for Sunday April 18.
The situation was compounded at Kuwait’s airport when traffic was suspended for 45 minutes on Saturday morning as a result of unstable weather conditions.
“Arrivals and departures were halted from 7:30 am to 8:15 am. Planes at the airport were grounded and incoming planes were diverted to Saudi's Dammam International Airport,” Esam Al Zamel, the airport's director of operations told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Two Kuwait Airways flights coming from Dubai and Dhaka had to land in Dammam, but were rescheduled to fly to Kuwait after a short time.
Unusually strong winds have caused havoc in several areas in Bahrain where many billboards collapsed.
