Baby on board: Indian gives birth at 35,000 feet

MUMBAI: An Indian woman gave birth to a baby boy on an international commercial flight as it flew at 35,000 feet, the airline said on Monday.

The unnamed woman, in her 20s, went into premature labour on Sunday´s Jet Airways flight between Damman in Saudi Arabia and Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

"The guest delivered a baby boy at 35,000 feet," Jet Airways said in a statement, adding that a paramedic on board and airline staff helped with the delivery.

The Boeing 737 flight, which had 162 passengers on board, was diverted to Mumbai where the woman and her newborn were rushed to a hospital near the airport.

An official at Mumbai´s Holy Spirit hospital told AFP on Monday that both the mother and baby boy were doing well.

The woman was believed to have been around 32 weeks pregnant when she gave birth.

Jet Airways said it was the first time a baby had been born on one of its flights and that it had given him free travel for life on the airline.

In August last year, a woman gave birth on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to the Philippines.

The plane made an emergency landing in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad so the mother and newborn could receive medical attention before continuing their journey to Manila.