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Air India to start budget flights to Gulf
Kerala govt-owned airline plans in the pipleine
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
August 13, 2005: Air India would start budget flights to
Doha, Bahrain and Kuwait, Kerala Finance Minister Vakkam
Purushothaman informed the State Assembly on Friday.
The Kerala Government had drawn the attention of Union Civil
Aviation Minister Praful Patel into the problems faced by
passengers from Kerala to the Gulf countries in Air India’s
budget Express flights.
Air India’s decision follows the minister’s intervention,
civil aviation ministry sources said.
The minister was replying to a demand to put pressure on the
Union Ministry to operate more flights to the Gulf, which has
a significant population of Keralites.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has been urged to direct state-run
Air India to increase the number of flights during festivals
and holiday season.
The State government would soon convene a meeting of airlines
operating from the State to the Gulf countries, the Minister
said. This is to chalk out a solution to the issue of the
alleged excess fare being charged, he said.
The Kerala government is also toying with the idea of starting
an airline with private participation.
The Cochin International Airport Ltd has been asked to prepare
a report in this regard.
The Air India Express fleet consists of state of the art
Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a capacity of 180 seats.
Air-India Express started with flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
Muscat and Salalah from Calicut, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram,
Mumbai and Delhi.
Air India Express had cancelled three flights each from Mumbai
and Delhi after it faced a shortage of pilots due to
resignations. Six Commanders and two co-pilots had quit
forcing the airline to curtail its operations.
The pilots allegedly quit without giving the sufficient notice
period, the airliner had said.
But Air India Express had continued its flights departing from
Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Calicut.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT |
