Out of a large number of expatriates from Kerala spread across the globe many are in the United States of America. A survey by Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) found that 1.07 lakh people flying out from its airport every year is destined for the US though they may transit at busy aviation hubs in the Middle East and European countries in between.
Add to this figure, such flyers leaving from the Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kannur airports in Kerala. Moreover, there is no dearth of passengers coming to Kerala from the US. It is thus evident that there are enough passengers to operate a wide-body aircraft to America daily from any of the airports in the State, but sadly there is no such!
The CIAL survey, which was held a couple of years, found that on an average 824 passengers travel to America and European countries daily from the Cochin Airport. That is enough passengers to comfortably operate three flights daily. Despite such a situation, Keralites have to depend on other cities and the Gulf countries for transit travel.
If an airline starts a daily US flight from Kerala it can hope to get a full booking on all days as per the survey figures. The daily average of 107,000 passengers leaving through the Kochi airport comes to 293.
If you have such a large number of passengers from Kochi alone then imagine what would be the number of passengers travelling to Europe and the US from the other three airports in the State? One can say without any doubt that the figure would come to around 1,000. This means enough passenger load for operating four aircraft.
But attempts are being made from various quarters to scuttle direct flights from Kerala. In the event of any airline company making an attempt for operating direct flight, there are lobbies that apply extreme pressure to derail such moves.
Onmanorama had reported earlier that Gulf-based airlines which want to retain huge profit from their connection services to Europe from Kerala at any cost would lobby against any bid to operate direct flights from Kochi to European destinations.
Expect a sudden reduction in the airfare of foreign airlines to the Gulf destinations, the moment a direct flight to European countries comes up.
There is no doubt that if direct flight services start from Kochi to Europe or America, it would be beneficial for other airports in Kerala as well. It goes without saying that for companies that have experienced an economic slowdown during the COVID-19, business is more important than anything else.
Kerala is likely to get maximum foreign tourists from Europe, especially Britain when "revenge travel" becomes a reality as the pandemic subsides. Therefore, Kerala needs direct Western connectivity to bring in these tourists.
A daily Kochi-London-New York flight could go a long way in addressing the unmet demand for both these routes.
(This is the second part of a special series in the wake of Air India announcing direct services between Cochin and London. For Part 1, click here.)
