Bahrain Air, a leading low-cost airline, could resume its flights to and from a major city in the Indian state of Kerala  as early as Sunday after a dispute forced the airline to ground flights last week.

The airline is still waiting for written approval from the Indian Civil Aviation Affairs Ministry to resume services on the newly-launched route to Thiruvananthapuram.

Around 140 passengers in transit from Saudi Arabia were initially stranded in Bahrain last Friday. However, they had all left by Monday and the airline has been accepting claims for refunds from customers.

A delegation from the airline and Civil Aviation Affairs earlier flew to India in a bid to resolve the issue.

The airline yesterday apologised to customers for the inconvenience.

"Bahrain Air regrets to inform its valued passengers that flights between Bahrain and Thiruvananthapuram on April 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, have been cancelled due to not yet receiving written approvals from the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India," said a statement.

"The Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs Authority, Bahrain Embassy in India, Indian Embassy in Bahrain as well as the Bahrain Air management are doing their utmost to obtain the written approval in the shortest time possible to resume its summer schedule for 2012, as was mutually agreed in the cordial meeting held in Delhi on April 2, between the concerned government and diplomatic authorities of Bahrain and India.

"Our management, staff and partners are working around the clock to minimise, to the greatest extent possible, the disruptions caused to our valued passengers for reasons beyond our control."

The airline's flights to other airports in India are continuing as normal. – TradeArabia News Service