*26 airlines operating to destinations abroad
* 102 weekly departures to Bangalore
*Frequent connectivity to The Middle East, London, Kuala Lumpur & Bangkok
Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) announced winter schedule for the International and domestic sectors, which will be effective from 30th October 2022 to 25th March 2023. With this schedule becoming effective, CIAL will facilitate a total of 1202 weekly air traffic movements as against 1160 in the ongoing summer schedule.
The winter schedule indicates that airport operator is bracing for a strong come back after the pandemic gap. The schedule will see 26 airlines operating to destinations abroad among which 22 are International carriers operating 271 weekly departures. Air India Express tops the list with 44 weekly departures to International destinations whereas Indigo will have 42 domestic departure operations weekly. AIR ARABIA-14, AIR ARABIA ABU DHABI-7, AIR INDIA-10, AIRASIA BERHAD-17, EMIRATES AIR-14, ETIHAD AIR-7, FLY DUBAI-3, GULF AIR-7, JAZEERA AIR-5, KUWAIT AIR-9, MALINDO AIR-7, MALAYSIAN AIRLINES-7, OMAN AIR-14, QATAR AIR-11, SAUDI ARABIAN-14, SINGAPORE AIRLINES-14, SPICEJET-7, SRI LANKAN-10, THAI AIR ASIA-5, and other prominent carriers operating frequent weekly services. There will be 44 weekly departures to Dubai Alone. Whereas Abu Dhabi and Muscat come second with 30 operations from Kochi. Weekly services to Kaula Lumpur have increased to 25.
CIAL schedules 327 domestic operations for the winter season offering connectivity with 13 cities in the country which includes 104 weekly flights to Banglore,56 weekly flights to Delhi, 42 to Mumbai, 24 to Hyderabad, 52 to Chennai, and 10 to Pune. INDIGO- 163, AIR INDIA-28, AIR ASIA-56, AKASA AIR-28, ALLIANCE AIR-21, GO AIR -14, SPICEJET-3, VISTARA- 14. There will be daily flights to Agathi, Ahmedabad, Goa, Kannur, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.
CIAL managing director S Suhas IAS said that CIAL’s commitment to the passengers and aviation fraternity has been a driving force behind the establishment of connectivity across the directions. “ Hon.Chairman and the Board of Directors have already laid out a blue print for the future. We are trying to introduce more international carriers and activate new routes. We hope that, the commissioning of the general aviation terminal in this year itself will also give impetus to the traffic growth ’’- Suhas added.
Owing to the measures implemented for ensuring smooth connectivity during the post pandemic era, CIAL registered a growth of 92.66 % in passenger volume and 60.06 % in air traffic movement FY 2021-22 compared to the previous fiscal. The period also witnessed CIAL improving its position as the third busiest airport in the country in terms of international traffic.