Airline companies, including foreign carriers, have assured Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan their willingness to commence more international and domestic flights from the Kannur international airport.
The assurance was given at a meeting of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of airlines convened by the Chief Minister in the capital to improve flight connectivity to the airports in the State on Monday.
The Chief Minister said the Civil Aviation Ministry was yet to give its nod for foreign carriers to operate to Kannur. The State is hopeful that the ministry will reconsider the decision and give the approval as flights of the foreign carriers were essential for the development of the fourth international airport.
Pointing out that the government had reduced tax on ATF for flights from Kannur to one per cent, Mr. Vijayan said improving air connectivity to Kannur was needed, especially from New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram.
Responding to the Chief Minister’s request to reduce fare in Air India flights from Kannur airport, AI Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said instructions have been given to bring down the fares. Mr. Kharola said the airline will come up with more flights from Kannur in the summer schedule.
IndiGo will commence flights to Bengaluru, Hyderabad Chennai, Hubbali and Goa from Kannur international airport on January 25. The flight to Thiruvananthapuram, Doha and Kuwait will commence in March and those to Jeddah and Dammam in Saudi Arabia in two months.
K. Shyamsundar, Chief Executive Officer of Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air India that is operating international flights from Kannur to Sharjah, Abudhabi, Riyadh, and Doha, informed the meeting that the flights to Bahrain, Kuwait and Muscat from March.
GoAir will operate flights to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Muscat while Spicejet will commence services to Bengaluru an Chennai.
Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey praised the State for its initiative to improve the air connectivity to the four airports. Joint Secretary, Civil Aviation Usha Padhee, Chief Secretary Tom Jose, Principal Secretary, Aviation K. R. Jyothilal, KIAL MD V. Thulasidas, Regional Executive Director, AAI, S. Sreekumar and CEOs and representatives of 10 domestic carriers and 12 foreign carriers participated.