Thiruvananthapuram: Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI) has made a fervent plea to the Centre to upgrade Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram international airports to the status of major airports and as strategically located airports, on par with the metro airports in the country.
“International flight traffic should be allowed to both the airports from all parts of the world,’’ urged E M Najeeb, president of CKTI, in a memorandum submitted to Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pasupati, Union minister for Civil Aviation. He pointed out that the draft Civil Aviation Policy, under Section 5 ‘Bilateral policy’, it is mentioned that “excessively liberal bilateral towards Middle East, Singapore and Sri Lanka allow the respective carriers to leak traffic from non-metro airports. Most of the bilaterals allow “all” airports as “points of call’’ thus do not support funneling of traffic from metro airports. So foreign airlines should be allowed to operate To and Fro metro airports only. A review on the bilateral therefore is in the national interest”.
The above clause states that foreign airlines should be allowed to operate To and Fro Metro Airports only. ‘’In this context we wish to highlight that there are three international airports in Kerala from where airlines from Middle East, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Maldives operate. This is primarily because there is heavy traffic to various points from these airports. The T’Puram International Airport, Cochin International Airport and Kozhikode International Airports are all very strategically located and significant in their own way. But none of the airports are recognised as major airports,’’ the memorandum pointed out.
19/01/15 New Indian Express
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“International flight traffic should be allowed to both the airports from all parts of the world,’’ urged E M Najeeb, president of CKTI, in a memorandum submitted to Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pasupati, Union minister for Civil Aviation. He pointed out that the draft Civil Aviation Policy, under Section 5 ‘Bilateral policy’, it is mentioned that “excessively liberal bilateral towards Middle East, Singapore and Sri Lanka allow the respective carriers to leak traffic from non-metro airports. Most of the bilaterals allow “all” airports as “points of call’’ thus do not support funneling of traffic from metro airports. So foreign airlines should be allowed to operate To and Fro metro airports only. A review on the bilateral therefore is in the national interest”.
The above clause states that foreign airlines should be allowed to operate To and Fro Metro Airports only. ‘’In this context we wish to highlight that there are three international airports in Kerala from where airlines from Middle East, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Maldives operate. This is primarily because there is heavy traffic to various points from these airports. The T’Puram International Airport, Cochin International Airport and Kozhikode International Airports are all very strategically located and significant in their own way. But none of the airports are recognised as major airports,’’ the memorandum pointed out.
19/01/15 New Indian Express
