All the charters will be from Bangalore, the main Indian centre for floricultural exports where a moderate climate is especially suited to rose cultivation.Ramakrishna said technical problems with a leased aircraft had caused Bangalore's flower exporters to scrap a planned charter operation between Christmas and the New Year.``We almost operated the charter, but it developed a technical snag at the last minute. Then we decided to shift the load to scheduled airlines as we did not want to take a chance,'' said Ramakrishna. But he said exporters had run into problems as one of the airlines unexpectedly reduced its cargo capacity and another cancelled a scheduled flight.``This has made us stronger in our resolve (to operate charters),'' he added.

Ramakrishna said each charter flight was expected to carry between 15 and 30 tonnes of flowers.``This year the demand will certainly be very high as it will be the millennium's first Valentine and it will be on a Monday. Bosses will certainly buy more for their secretaries,'' he said.The exporters anticipate that total flower exports will rise to 180 tonnes for this year's Valentine's Day, compared with 90 tonnes in 1999. ``Last year, the exports were low as Valentine was on a Sunday. About 30-40 per cent of the demand is from offices, which was not there in the last season,'' he added.India's most important flower markets are Europe and Japan. The country's annual flower production is about 1,000 tonnes. Most flowers are sent to Amsterdam from where they are distributed to other European countries.Ramakrishna said that about 70 to 80 per cent of the flowers would be sent by charters, with the rest going by scheduled flights.