MIDEAST UPDATE

At least eight airlines have resumed flights to the Persian Gulf despite few passengers, high insurance rates, terrorism threats and open warfare. Among the eight are British Airways, which has resumed flights to and from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Some carriers, such as Kuwait Airways--an airline without a country--are flying to evacuate foreigners. Others said they want to maintain a veneer of normalcy in the crisis.

Meanwhile, the state-run Philippine Airlines said it is suffering significant losses in revenue due to the Persian Gulf War, primarily because it was forced to cancel its five weekly flights to the Middle East--it’s most lucrative routes. In addition to a 30% reduction in revenue from the loss of those flights, the carrier said traffic from the United States has also slowed because of fears of terrorism.

About a dozen American companies operating in Israel say they have no plans to scale back or withdraw from the country despite repeated missile attacks from Iraq. They are being extra cautious, however, they said. One firm, Amityville, N.Y. -based General Microwave, which makes components for military electronic warfare and radar systems at a plant in Jerusalem, said it is backing up Israeli production at other plants because of customer apprehensions about the Israeli’s plant’s ability to continue working.

Chrysler Corp. said it is extending military leave pay to six months, from one month, for employees who are called to active duty during the Gulf War. General Motors said it will bridge for longer than one month, the gap between employees’ regular pay and the military salary paid to reservists on active duty. Other auto makers have also changed their policies due to the crisis and Ford Motor Co. said it may review its policy.