KOCHI: Kerala is trying to woo international airlines to launch direct services as the number of travellers to East Asian and Oceanic countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand, sees a quantum jump, thanks to students pursuing higher education abroad and the new phenomenon of globe-trotting Malayalis.
According to an aviation-sector expert, there has been an over 30% year-on-year increase in post-pandemic passenger movement to these countries from India.
To cater to the demand, a delegation from Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) is visiting these countries to convince airline companies of the opportunity that Kerala offers. “In 2018, daily traffic to Australia from Kochi, via transit routes, was around 260 passengers. This has increased threefold,” said a source with the airport.
Some of the companies that are being lured include Lufthansa, Philippine Airlines, Qantas and Air New Zealand.
After Canada, the UK, the US, and Ireland, students from India are now making their way to Australia, say tour operators.
“Passengers from Kerala depend on transit flights either from Bengaluru, Delhi or Singapore to reach their final destinations in Australia and New Zealand,” said an official with Riya Travels, a Kochi-based travel agency “There is huge demand for direct operations to Oceanic countries, especially New Zealand and Australia. The recently launched direct VietJet Air flight to Vietnam, operating four days a week, is fully booked and doing brisk business,” he added.
According to data with travel-technology company Sabre, over 40,000 tourists from Australia visited Kerala via transit routes in 2018.
Presently, Kochi airport has connectivity to Singapore via Singapore Airlines, Malaysia via Malindo Air and AirAsia, Vietnam via VietJet Airlines, and Thailand via Thai AirAsia. “Around 30% of passengers on these routes travel to Australia or New Zealand,” say tour operators.
Attempts are on to enhance direct connectivity to East Asian and Oceanic countries, and talks are ongoing with various airlines, said CIAL sources. However, nothing has been finalised yet, they added.