KOCHI : The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has announced its summer schedule, effective from March 31 to October 26, 2024. A total of 1,628 weekly operations against the 1,330 operations for the ongoing winter schedule is the highlight of the schedule. Addressing rising passenger demand, additional domestic services to Agatti, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have been added to the summer schedule.
The announced schedule will see 29 airlines, of which 26 are operating in the international sector. Indigo tops the list with 49 weekly departures to international destinations, whereas Air India Express will have 41 departure operations weekly. There will be 66 weekly departures to Abu Dhabi alone. Doha comes second with 46 operations, whereas Dubai comes third with 45 operations.
Air India, which now operates flights to London- Gatwick airport every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday will expand its operations with an additional flight per week.
CIAL’s efforts to expand services on busy routes and introduce regional routes have garnered positive feedback. Recent tourism development in Lakshadweep has also sparked increased interest. Currently, in the ongoing winter schedule, there are 10 weekly departure flights to Agatti, all operated by Alliance Air. Now, it will increase to 16 as Indigo commences daily flights to Agatti.
“The company is making vigorous efforts to adapt and innovate in response to the evolving landscape of the Indian aviation sector, as CIAL is the only airport in Kerala to handle 10 million passengers in a calendar year. Also, CIAL is the 4th largest airport in the country in terms of international traffic,” said S Suhas, managing director of CIAL. “CIAL is actively preparing and formulating strategies to accommodate this growth, devising new route maps for the future. As evident, there is a definite increase in the number of domestic flight services, and additional services to many Gulf cities are firmly scheduled for commencement,” said Suhas.
Indigo tops list of departures
Indigo tops the list with 49 weekly departures to international destinations, whereas Air India Express will have 41 departure operations weekly. There will be 66 weekly departures to Abu Dhabi alone