Travel Agents Upset at State of Thiruvananthapuram Airport

December 30, 2003

Travel Agents Upset at State of Thiruvananthapuram Airport
New Kerala, India


Kerala's travel agents Tuesday expressed concern at the "tardy" development of 
the international airport here, saying the construction of a new terminal had 
been held up for eight years.

The Kerala Association of Travel Agents (KATA) also noted that development of 
the international airport at Kochi had progressed at a fast pace even though it 
handled fewer travellers than the airport here.

KATA alleged the Thiruvananthapuram airport had been overlooked despite the 
huge traffic that it handled. "Currently a record 900,000 passengers use this 
airport every year, while at Kochi the figure is 650,000," it said. 

"For the past eight years, successive state governments have failed to acquire 
27 acres of land for building a new terminal here, while in a matter of months, 
1,300 acres of land were acquired for the Nedumbassery international airport at 
Kochi," KATA president K.V. Muraleedharan told a news conference here.

"In Kochi, five years after the airport began operations, plans for a new 
terminal and a massive expansion have been announced." 

The immediate reason for the unhappiness among KATA officials was the 
announcement on Monday of a master plan for the Kochi airport by Kerala Chief 
Minister A.K. Antony, who is also chairman of the Cochin International Airport 
Limited (CIAL). 

"We applaud Antony for the efforts he has taken for the Kochi airport, but he 
should come forward and help the airport here which has the bare minimum 
facilities," said Muraleedharan.

Kochi is India's first privately funded airport. This year, CIAL registered 
profits for the first time since it began operations in 1999. 

For the first half of the current fiscal, CIAL made a net profit of Rs.190 
million. Antony told CIAL's annual general meeting that investors would start 
receiving dividends from next year.

KATA officials also alleged that Air-India and Indian Airlines were neglecting 
the Thiruvananthapuram airport. 

"Today there is enough traffic for 15 additional weekly flights to the US, 
Europe, Singapore, Colombo and the Middle East but they are not taking any 
initiative in this regard," said Muraleedharan.

"Instead of increasing flights, they have withdrawn eight flights in this 
sector in the last few weeks. Everyone knows that there are lobbies working 
against this airport."

KATA warned that if Antony did not take this matter up with the prime minister 
and the civil aviation ministry, the 13-year-old Thiruvananthapuram airport 
would die a natural death. 
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