Several foreign airline companies appear to have evinced keen interest in operating direct flights from Calicut International Airport to Southeast Asia.
“Proposals have already been sent to AirAsia, Malindo Air and Sri Lankan Airlines for operating flights to Kuala Lumpur and Colombo. We are positively awaiting their response,” K. Srinivasa Rao, Airport Director, told The Hindu on Friday.
“The Airports Authority of India has several new operations in the pipeline in the next season. Calicut has been a focal point for opening a window to Southeast Asia. Previously, proposals had been sent to Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysia Airlines to operate at least one non-stop direct flight to Kuala Lumpur besides a flight to Singapore as well,” Mr. Rao said.
Malaysia, Colombo and Singapore have become hot tourist destinations for the people of Malabar. At present, they have to rely on tour packages offered from the Kochi airport.
AirAsia is a Malaysian low-cost airline with hubs at Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Sabah, while Malindo Airways is a Malaysian hybrid full service carrier owned by Indonesian Lion Air Group with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
As of now, Mr. Rao said, the Calicut airport is looking only at two destinations - Kuala Lumpur and Colombo. “SilkAir is operating from Coimbatore and Kochi airports while Scoot, a Singaporean low-cost airline of Singapore Airlines, is operating from Thiruvananthapuram airport. So they would not agree to our proposals,” he said.
Calicut Airport authorities chose these destinations after getting feedback from about 200 tour operators and travel agents.
