TIRUCHY: In what may be good news for fliers, particularly those from Middle East countries, a private airline is planning to launch operations between Tiruchy and Kannur International Airport in Kerala by December. According to sources, airline IndiGo is considering to extend the operation of one of its Bengaluru flights from Tiruchy to Kannur.
Raising hopes of the introduction of direct flights to Kannur aside, the plan turning into reality would mean resumption of operations to Kerala from the airport after a gap of around three years. "At present, IndiGo is operating three daily flights between Tiruchy and Bengaluru.
They are getting more than 70% booking. Therefore, if the airline finds that it is getting more passengers to Kannur from Tiruchy, it is likely to start a direct flight between Tiruchy and Kannur," an airport official said. According to the current plan, the Tiruchy-Bengaluru flight would head to Kannur after dropping passengers to Bengaluru at Kempegowda International Airport.
It may be recalled that there was a direct flight between Tiruchy and Cochin International Airport (CIA) about three years ago. Though the operation was recording good passenger traffic, sources said that the airline suspended its operation in 2019 due to runway re-carpeting works at CIA.
Later the Covid-19 pandemic kept the resumption of the flight to Kerala out of priority. IndiGo’s plan to extend operations to Kannur has kindled hopes of operations to CIA as well from Tiruchy. "We are having several flights from Middle East countries.
Therefore, if we have a direct connecting flight to CIA, some of the international passengers to Kerala are likely to use it. We hope IndiGo would consider such aspects and start operations to CIA from Tiruchy. We also want operations to Delhi and Mumbai from Tiruchy," said N Ramesh, a travel agent in Tiruchy.