Shreyas H S
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Dajiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, May 5: The expiry of lease on flights borrowed by Air India Express has hit its operation from Mangalore International Airport. All the flights on Kuwait-Mangalore-Kozhikode route have stopped operating since March 2014.
The airport was upgraded to international status conceding to the demands of those who frequently fly to GCC countries like Kuwait and the UAE. The Kuwait-Mangalore-Kozhikode route had in fact minimized flying time to four hours from 12-13 hours. The cancellation of the flight has forced the passengers to fly from Mumbai as before.
Addressing a press meet here on Monday May 5, KPCC general secretary Ivan D'Souza said that there had been an undue delay in extending the airport runway and that a lobby of Kerala officials was hand in glove with the civil aviation department in cancellation of Mangalore-Kuwait Air India Express operations. Blaming the airport officials for both the issues, he said the cargo terminal which was supposed to do a business of Rs one lac a month was fetching only Rs 30,000 now, as Air India was not lifting the cargo as it should. He blamed the airport officials for failing to convince Air India in this matter.
Speaking to daijiworld on the cancellation of AI Express flight to Kuwait, businessman Robert Monteiro said, "The dedicated efforts of people who commute frequently from India to Dubai or Kuwait was instrumental in the airport's upgradation." The number of flights traversing in this route had been slowly cut down since January. Air India stopped its operation to Kuwait completely from March.
"We have to board a flight to Mumbai and then have to travel to another airport there to catch a flight to Kuwait. This break between flights means it takes 12-13 hours to reach Kuwait," Monteiro said.
"The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has shown apathy towards this issue that has caused inconvenience to the passengers. The Kuwait commuters conveyed their problem to the airport director but no initiative has been taken till date," he added.
J T Radhakrishna, airport director speaking to daijworld said that AI Express had to stop the operation has its lease on borrowed flights had expired. "I spoke to the chief executive of AI on the disruption of flights, and he said that a new deal would be finalized to take flights on lease in a few months. This is not the fault of airport officials as alleged by some. I have done everything possible within my power to sort out the problem."
Further speaking on the allegations leveled by Ivan D'souza about the delay in setting extending the runway, he said talks are on in this regard. "Union minster Veerappa Moily has written a letter to the Airport Authority of India. The AAI has forwarded this message to infrastructure department. The letter stated that 285 acres of additional land was required to extend the runway," he said.
"The loss incurred to the cargo service is because AI is not lifting the cargos. The allegation that airport officials were responsible for the loss is baseless. Currently, only Jet airways is lifting the goods. While it was expected to garner Rs 1 lac per month, the income has stayed around Rs 30,000," he added. for the cargo section, he said.