Air-India has decided to further curtail its services to Hong Kong following a drop in loads due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome scare as well as a directive from the Indian Pilots Guild asking line pilots not to operate on this sector.

Effective April 11, the airline will operate only two frequencies a week to Hong Kong with executive crew without involving a layover, an airline spokesman said in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The IPG, a professional body of line pilots, has in a directive asked its members not to operate to Hong Kong for safety reasons.

According to the A-I spokesman, in view of the Gulf war and SARS, the airline had been monitoring the loads on various sectors and accordingly decided to reduce services to Hong Kong.

Executive crew would now operate to Hong Kong with one set flying in and the second set bringing back the flight, he added.

The airline had last week decided to restrict its staff travelling to Hong Kong and Singapore and placed an embargo on their travel by Air-India as well as on interlines tickets with immediate effect.