Air-India operated four of its scheduled international flights from Mumbai on Saturday morning, even as the management sent letters to the Indian Pilots Guild asking it to withdraw all directives about operations to the SARS-affected regions.

An A-I spokesman said apart from its international flights to Delhi-Dubai, Calicut-Dubai, London-New York and Paris-New Jersey, the airline operated services to Cochin, Bangalore and Ahmedabad to bring in connecting passengers for its international flights.

A special flight was operated to Delhi to take passengers, who arrived from New York as well as to bring in those from the capital to connect them to a special flight to London, which is to be operated later in the day.

According to A-I sources, letters were sent last night to IPG committee members demanding them to withdraw the directives, including the one on certification that other crew members have not been on any flights to SARS-affected regions in the past 10 days.

The IPG leaders, including president Capt Kenneth Khan, arrived in Mumbai late Friday night as passengers on board various flights.

The secretary, Civil Aviation K Roy Paul, who is also the chairman, is arriving here around 11.00 am and is scheduled to meet the departmental heads before beginning talks with the IPG.