Several organisations have urged the State government to take up the case of the Calicut airport when officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation hold discussions with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on January 21.
The meeting, to be attended by representatives of various foreign and domestic airline companies, in Thiruvananthapuram is solely aimed at the expansion of newly commissioned Kannur airport. “The needs of the Calicut airport should also be discussed at the meeting focussing on granting permission to airlines from the Gulf region,” C.E. Chakkunny of the Malabar Development Council told The Hindu on Wednesday.
Senior officials of airline companies from West Asia and South East Asian countries are expected to attend the meeting in the capital.
Mr. Chakkunny said that priority should be for giving permission to restore the operation of wide-bodied aircraft under Code E by the Dubai-based Emirates and Air India at the Calicut airport.
Besides, he said, the State government should reduce the sales tax on aviation turbine fuel for airlines operating at the Calicut airport like the relaxation done for the Kannur airport which was at 1%. As of now, the tax imposed at the Calicut airport, which is run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), was 28%.
He said that the Calicut airport was vital for air connectivity in Malabar. Despite the ban on wide-bodied aircraft at the airport for the past three years, the number of passengers had not come down, he claimed.
