Marking the beginning of yet another peak tourist season in Kochi, the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on Tuesday carried out the first turnaround operation of this season.
The international airport here on Monday handled a record number of passengers in a single hour, thanks to the German cruise liner AIDAsol that docked in Kochi on March 30. About 956 international tourists in three aircraft landed here from Germany during the day to board the luxury cruiser while a batch of about one thousand passengers who had disembarked from the ship, boarded their return flights from here.
The operations got off to a formal start as the first chartered flight from Frankfurt landed here by 9 a.m. According to the officials, all the guests had been taken straight to the Kochi port to complete the immigration and check-in formalities for boarding the ship, which departed to Colombo on Wednesday. Arrangements were made at the immigration counters to expedite the clearance procedure apart from setting up a help desk outside the arrival lounge to carry out the paper works. Besides, large coaches, luggage vans and personnel executives were put into service to assist the guests, both arriving and departing
ADVERTISEMENT
With Kochi becoming a prime cruise destination in the country, CIAL is taking more proactive steps in developing cruise exchange and seeks to expand revenue from its core product of aircraft landings.