What does a state with three international airports, another in the offing and seven million passengers passing through it annually do next? Open its own airline, of course. And that's what Kerala is doing. If that sounds audacious and unrealistic at a time when most airlines are in the red, those heading it are unfazed. After all, they ask, didn't Kerala give India its first airport based on the PPP (public-private participation) model in Cochin in 1999? And it's running profitably, garnering Rs 100 crore last year alone.
But what compelled this sliver of a state to think of starting its own airline, says Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, was the step-motherly treatment meted out by AI Express. "It cancelled flights recently to the Gulf at the drop of a hat. Despite knowing two weeks beforehand, it didn't inform our passengers. We don't expect this from a national carrier. Also, the fares of other airlines are too exorbitant for workers in the Gulf." (see box) Interestingly, this is probably the first instance globally when a state/provincial government will hold equity stake in an airline , says an aviation adviser at Ernst & Young.
07/10/12 Shobha John/Times of India
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But what compelled this sliver of a state to think of starting its own airline, says Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, was the step-motherly treatment meted out by AI Express. "It cancelled flights recently to the Gulf at the drop of a hat. Despite knowing two weeks beforehand, it didn't inform our passengers. We don't expect this from a national carrier. Also, the fares of other airlines are too exorbitant for workers in the Gulf." (see box) Interestingly, this is probably the first instance globally when a state/provincial government will hold equity stake in an airline , says an aviation adviser at Ernst & Young.
07/10/12 Shobha John/Times of India
