Coimbatore International Airport, which registered 27.29 % growth in terms of passenger traffic in 2018 compared to the previous year, is facing turbulence in steady air connectivity.
Despite having the tag of an international airport, its international connectivity is limited to only three destinations — Sharjah, Singapore and Colombo.
Lack of flights to the West and more connectivity to the West Asian countries and the East is a question to its international airport tag.
Airport Authority of India (AAI) sources said there were no signs of new flights to international destinations such as Dubai, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the U.S. and the Europe, which the industrial and civic forums have been demanding.
Vanitha Mohan, chairman of the Kongu Global Forum (KGF) that has been making representations to improve the connectivity, said Coimbatore needed flights to the West, especially Europe and the U.S.
“Connectivity to the West is easy from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East, and Malaysia and Bangkok in the East. As per reports, an international airline has entered into an agreement with a regional player to operate flights to Dubai. Coimbatore very well deserves a flight to Dubai,” she said.
With the much demanded connections remaining elusive, Ms. Mohan said that the hub and spoke model operation should be introduced to improve connectivity to these foreign destinations through other major airports.
“The hub and spoke model can be introduced with Coimbatore as spoke where immigration clearances can be done for hassle-free international connections from hub airports like Delhi.” she said.
Meanwhile, the regional connectivity of the airport is to just five destinations - Chennai, Bombay, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
With Jet Airways withdrawing operations, the airport has lost services to Pune that had decent patronage. Another service that Alliance Air started to Kochi in March 2018 was withdrawn a few months after the launch.
“Jet Airways was the first operator to conduct services to Bengaluru from Coimbatore. The air slots left by Jet Airways will eventually be filled by other operators. Alliance Air started an early morning flight to Chennai. While Spice Jet started a flight to Bombay from April 26, Indigo has also announced a night flight to Bombay from May 5,” said airport director R. Mahalingam.
AAI is hopeful that reduction of value added tax (VAT) for aviation turbine fuel for late night and early morning flights operating via Coimbatore International Airport will attract operators to introduce new services. The relaxation in the VAT is applicable for flights operating between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
