Naval air base at Kochi opened up for commercial flights

MUMBAI | KOCHI: The naval air base at Kerala’s capital was opened up for commercial flights Monday even as God’s own country continued to grapple with the worst deluge in close to a century. INS Gaduda, at Kochi, was safety audited and prepared in a record time of a little more than 24 hours, said people close to the development.

Alliance Air, the regional subsidiary of national carrier Air India, has started operating 2 flights connecting Bengaluru and Kochi and others to Trichy and Chennai, said a spokesperson at the Cochin International Airport Ltd, that operates the main airport in the city. Starting tomorow, Alliance Air, will also connect flights to Hyderabad.

Executives from CIAL are now providing terminal management services to the naval base, he added. India’s biggest airline by market share IndiGo will between today and August 26 operate eight round trip relief flights from Kozhikode, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Trivandrum - in addition to flying three daily additional relief flights (round trip) from the Kochi naval base.

The CIAL spokesperson also said, the country’s number 2 airline, Jet Airways, too is mulling the start of special flights to the base and may connect to Trichy among other neighbouring destinations. A second person in the know added Vistara, the joint venture carrier between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons, is exploring options of deploying its Airbus A320 aircraft to the base, which typically can handle smaller planes like turboprops. No final decision has been taken yet, he added.

Catastrophic floods—the worst since 1924–have ravaged Kerala since the end of may leading to the death of more than 360 people. Nearly a million are now in relief camps across the state. The rains have now subsided and the airport isn’t waterlogged anymore, said the spokesperson. But the deluge has broken the outer wall of the airport and with it, critical equipment such as runway lights.

He added the loss on account of this damage would be close to Rs 220 crore. He added the airport is “on a war footing” to put the wall and equipment back up by Aug 26, when operations are scheduled to resume.

State government officials however said tourist numbers which start rising by mid-September monsoons will however be impacted. Tourism is Kerala’s biggest revenue generator and has been growing at 11%-13% every year. The state earned Rs 33,000 crore from visitor arrivals and stays last year.

The monsoons constitute peak travel season to Kerala especially to its backwaters. Meanwhile, other airlines have been chipping in even as there have also been complaints of arbitrary increase in destinations such as Mangalore and Trivandrum.

SpiceJet announced it will, between August 17 and 27, operate 76 additional flights connecting Trivandrum and Kozhikode to Chennai, Bangalore as well as Dubai and Male.