THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Government decision to allot the slots vacated by the grounded Jet Airways to other airlines has proved costly for the state as no major airlines have come forward to take up the slots vacated by the defunct airline. Further, as if this was not enough, some of the other airlines which received the slots of Jet Airways from metro cities have withdrawn the aircraft from Kerala in order to cash in on the more economically viable routes from there.
According to sources, around four flights from Kochi to various destinations have been hit after airlines such as Indigo and Spicejet withdrew their aircrafts from here to deploy them on other more economically viable routes during peak times. There were around 13 daily flights to various destinations including overseas destinations from Kochi for Jet Airways. None of the airlines, which were allotted the slots, have come forward to offer service on Jet Airways routes.
When Adoor Prakash, MP, pointed out in the Parliament, that various airlines were charging exorbitant rates on the Kerala-Gulf routes, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Sing Puri said that in the wake of drop in overseas services following the grounding of Jet Airways, the ministry has temporarily allocated those routes to other airlines even on international sectors including India - Gulf sector to facilitate the passenger movement.
Though Kerala-Gulf sector was a profitable route for many airlines, the slots vacated by Jet have no major takers till now in the international sector. There were three international flights for Jet to Gulf from Thiruvananthapuram international airport besides one Mumbai-Trivandrum domestic service. The three international routes are still vacant and the domestic route was taken over by Spicejet. In the case of Kozhikode Airport, there were three international and two domestic flights from there before Jet Airways was grounded. All those slots are now vacant, one of the airport officials said.
As per the bilateral flying rights of Jet Airways with five countries, which were previously allocated to them have now been temporarily given to Air India and Air India Express till the end of the summer schedule this year. As per the bilateral rights, for instance, the Jet had 5,852 seats per week in the India-Dubai sector and 5,670 seats per week in India-Qatar sector. The Union government recently suspended giving ‘point of call’ for the foreign airlines companies in the airports here to support domestic companies. But even after this, there are no takers.
Clipped wings
Jet Airways grounded its operations on April 17 this year after it ran out of funds.
Though the Centre temporarily allocated the domestic slots as well as international flying rights of Jet Airways to other airlines that could start new flights immediately and fill the supply gap, there were no takers for the international slots of Jet from Kerala
Airfares from Kerala both domestic and international are ruling high after the ban on Boeing MAX aircraft coupled with the grounding of Jet Airways planes