Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has introduced more services to Kolkata, Chandigarh, Varanasi, Raipur, Ranchi, and Lucknow considering the increasing passenger volume in the domestic sector. A communication from CIAL said on Saturday that the services had been introduced in the revised summer schedule even as the airport saw an 18% increase in passenger volumes in 2023-24 compared to the previous financial year.
CIAL has continued to maintain increased passenger volume with more than one crore passengers through during 2023-24 too.
The summer schedule came into effect on March 1, 2024, and there were 1,628 services. Around 60 more services have been added to the schedule now, the communication said. The services commenced in the first week of May.
Air India Express has scheduled six services a week to Kolkata, while Indigo services have been launched to destinations like Ranchi, Chandigarh, Varanasi, Raipur, and Lucknow.
New services have been launched by Air India Express to Pune and Bagdogra and Ranchi by Air Asia. Similarly, connectivity to metro cities too have been increased. There will be 20 flights to Bengaluru daily, and 13 flights to Delhi and 10 services to Mumbai. Daily flights have been launched by Indigo Airlines to the Lakshadweep islands from May 1. These services have received warm response. There are 10 services to Agatti in a week by Alliance Air.
There are also services from Kochi to Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kannur, Ahmedabad, and Thiruvananthapuram. There are 13 services to Bangkok. Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chiminh City too are linked with Kochi.
Meanwhile, CIAL touched 1.05 crore passengers during 2023-24. This is the highest passenger movement through the airport so far, said the communication. The year-to-year increase is 18%.
During 2023-24, as many as 70,203 services handled by CIAL. Of the total passengers, 55.98 lakh were accounted for by the domestic sector and 49.31 lakh by the international sector.
