KOCHI: As part of Vande Bharath Mission, Air India will operate direct London-Kochi-London flight service from August 28 till September 27. There will be one flight each on Fridays and Sundays, directly connecting London and Kochi. “Flight AI 1186 from London will land at Kochi at 0015 on Sundays and depart to London at 1220 on the same day and the second service will land at Kochi at 0400 on Fridays and depart at 0600 on the same day,” a statement by Kochi airport said.
Air India has been operating evacuation flights via Delhi and Mumbai from London with feeder flights to Kochi. But, these flights were not a suitable option for vulnerable groups due to the added exposure to the virus during the transit process at Delhi/Mumbai. “The flights between Kochi and London, which begins on August 28, will be the first direct flight to a European destination from Kerala,” said Tom Aditya, mayor emeritus of Bradley Stoke, Bristol in England.
Tom Aditya, who is from Pala and immigrated to the UK in 2002, said he and advocate Shaima Ammal, a Malayalee solicitor from London, kept pushing for the start of direct flights between Kochi and London.
Tom Aditya, who is currently chairman of the local Conservative Party, said “We have been pursuing for this direct flight for the last many years. This was one of my requests to the Indian authorities when I became the Mayor.
However, we have been able to make much headway for this initiative during the lockdown period, since I was closely involved with the Vande Bharath Misson repatriation flights. Many people have been yearning for decades to see this happen. Written representations were sent to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry, the High Commission of India in London and Air India to allow direct flights to Kochi.”He also thanked Alphons Kannamthanam MP who urged and pursued this issue in the Parliamentary committees