The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will commence round-the-clock flight operations from the Domestic Terminal (Terminal-I) on Shanghumugham side from July 10 paving the way for more domestic flights in the night and better connectivity to other cities.
The first flight to make use of the facility will be low cost carrier IndiGo’s 6E-359 Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram flight which will land here at 1.35 a.m. and depart from here to Delhi at 2.05 a.m. At present, the ‘red-eye’ flight (the ones that depart late and arrive early at destination) that has good patronage is being operated from the Terminal-II on the city side.
Airport Director, George G. Tharakan said the AAI has been able to break the jinx that there is no flight operations from the domestic terminal between 10.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m.
Indigo has requested for parking permission for additional three flights during the night as part of making the city a hub for its flight operations. These flights will arrive in September paving way for more flights from the metros and other cities to from Thiruvananthapuram to cater to needs of flyers, he said.
IndiGo’s 6E-359 Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram flight will operate on Monday,Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
From July 10, the 6E-837 flight will also operate from the T-I on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The AAI has also decided to increase the security check counters in the T-I and T-II terminals with the airport getting 150 more Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel for enhancing the security.
With this, Mr. Tharakan said the strength of CISF personnel who take care of security will go up from 480 to 630.
CISF personnel
The deployment of CISF personnel who are reporting for duty in batches in the premier airport, new x-ray machine for screening of the baggage and five self check-in counters (CUSS KIOSK) in domestic terminal will result in faster clearance of the passengers.
The AAI has also given permission to commence more food & beverages counters (Sub way, Chicking, Brocoli) at both the airport terminals.
The hub is being set up by the low cost carrier at a time when the airport is gearing up to achieve the five million mark in passenger movement during 2018-19.