More carriers will begin services from Kannur International Airport (KIAL) this month, reports a Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. According to the article, airlines such as GoAir, Air India and Jet Airways have scheduled flights from Kannur Airport to new destinations. IndiGo is all set to begin its services from January 25.
GoAir will start services to Mumbai from Kannur Airport from January 10 at 11 pm, which reaches Mumbai at 1 am in the morning. A flight will depart from Mumbai airport at 12.45 am that reaches Kannur at 2.45am. GoAir will also start services to Muscat and Abu Dhabi from February 1. There are also unannounced, yet confirmed services to Doha and Kuwait from the airline. To meet its new destinations, GoAir is said to have brought four aircraft from Delhi to Kannur International airport.
IndiGo has scheduled daily flights to Hyderabad, Hubli, Chennai, Goa and Bengaluru. By March, IndiGo intends to start its international services from KIAL.
Air India, on the other hand, conducts services to Abu Dhabi every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. It is expected to soon begin services to Trivandrum and Delhi.
Foreign Airlines to Start Services from KIAL
By March, Kannur International Airport may witness some foreign players. Airlines such as Oman Air and Gulf Airlines are awaiting permission from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start their services from Kannur airport. In an interview given earlier to Arabian Business, Mr. V. Thulasidas, Managing Director of Kannur International Airport had said that KIAL had made appropriate recommendations to DGCA to sanction the applications of the foreign airlines who are interested in operating from KIAL.
However, the operating services will be outside the scope of the seat-sharing pact that has a limitation on the maximum number of seats allowed between India and the Gulf countries. KIAL estimates around 1.8 million passengers in the initial year of operation. A significant share of cargo is also expected to arrive, especially from the Gulf countries.
