Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Charlie Kirk shot dead
  • Nepal protests
  • Russia-Poland tension
  • Israeli strikes in Qatar
  • Larry Ellison
  • Apple event
  • Sunjay Kapur inheritance row
fp-logo
The real 'Airlift': Air India's rescue mission in Kuwait won it a place in Guinness Records
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Lifestyle
  • The real 'Airlift': Air India's rescue mission in Kuwait won it a place in Guinness Records

The real 'Airlift': Air India's rescue mission in Kuwait won it a place in Guinness Records

FP Archives • February 2, 2016, 21:08:17 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

Former Air India (AI) executive director Jitender Bhargava has revealed how the rescue mission in Kuwait entered the Guinness Book of World Records.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
The real 'Airlift': Air India's rescue mission in Kuwait won it a place in Guinness Records

Mumbai: While a debate rages on about the veracity of events depicted in new Bollywood flick Airlift on India’s massive evacuation efforts in war-ravaged Kuwait, a former Air India official said it was carried out with ‘clock-work precision’ and made it to the Guinness World Records. “The film Airlift has brought the evacuation of over 117,000 Indians residing in Kuwait once again on the centre stage after 25 years. How did the feat get listed as a record in the Guinness Book makes for an interesting reading,” said former Air India (AI) executive director Jitender Bhargava in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Bhargava said as head of AI’s Public Relations, he would issue daily media statements about the number of flights that were operated in the past 24 hours, the number of stranded passengers safety brought from Amman in Jordan to various Indian cities, the next day’s plans of flight operations, etc. [caption id=“attachment_2607084” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] ![Representational image. Reuters](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/airindia-reuters.jpg) Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “Since it wasn’t the era of Google which enables one to source information easily, I walked from my office in Air India building to the book store in Eros Cinema complex near Churchgate in Mumbai, picked up a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records to access the address of the editor/publisher of Guinness book,” he recalled. Armed with that, he posted (the world didn’t know e-mails then) a letter to the Guinness editor enquiring if any record of evacuation by a civil airliner existed. A fortnight later, Guinness editor replied through a letter that it did not have a record in their books, Bhargava said. Meanwhile, the evacuation continued briskly with AI deploying as many aircraft as possible and even the now-merged entity, the domestic carrier Indian Airlines, and Indian Air Force extending a helping hand with their aircraft to bolster capacity to meet the growing demand. “After the evacuation operation was completed, I sent a comprehensive letter to Guinness providing details of total number of passengers carried, flights operated, duration of the entire exercise, etc. Guinness accepted the record and duly intimated us through a letter,” Bhargava said. Then, there was a long waiting period and it was only after a few months that the new edition of the Guinness Book of World Records was published with Air India’s achievements duly listed. “I once again walked to the same book store from where I had sourced the Guinness address to buy a copy of the book for our company’s archives,” Bhargava recalls with a smile. AI’s achievement is still a part of historical records, a feat performed between 13 August - 11 October, 1990. More than 170,000 Indians were stranded in Kuwait at that time and AI operated some 488 flights to evacuate them from Amman to Mumbai, a distance of more than 4,000 km. The massive operation was conducted during the Persian Gulf War and helped evacuate Indians living in Kuwait and Iraq. IANS

Tags
Indian Airlines air india IndianAirForce NewsTracker Jitender Bhargava Amman Guinness Book of World Records Kuwait evacuation Persian Gulf War
End of Article
Written by FP Archives

see more

Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment

Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment

From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal

From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal

Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?

Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?

Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike

Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike

Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment

Charlie Kirk, shot dead in Utah, once said gun deaths are 'worth it' to save Second Amendment

From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal

From governance to tourism, how Gen-Z protests have damaged Nepal

Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?

Did Russia deliberately send drones into Poland’s airspace?

Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike

Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages: Qatar PM after Doha strike

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV