Private airlines keen on starting services to
destinations in West Asia’
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved
international status to Mangalore Airport, according to the Director of the
airport M. R. Vasudeva.
Addressing a gathering at a meeting at the
Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Thursday, he said that the
Cabinet had also approved the international status for airports at Lucknow,
Varanasi, Trichy and Coimbatore.
He said that he came to know about it on
Thursday. He clarified that he had still got nothing in writing.
Later, Mr. Vasudeva told presspersons that
several airlines, including Jet Airways, were interested in starting
international routes from Mangalore airport. At present, the airport was
connected to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Muscat, Dubai, Doha, and Qatar. The newer
routes could be to other geographies depending on the “benefits”, he said.
“I am very, very happy… today, it has become
truly international,” Mr.Vasudeva, who will retire this month end, said. He
said that the airport handled 9.29 lakh passengers from July, 2011 to June,
2012 although it was projected to handle 9 lakh passengers in 2025.
‘Create demand’
Earlier, addressing the gathering regarding
exports and infrastructure at the airport were concerned, he likened it to a
chicken-and-egg situation, with exports and the cargo facilities waiting for
each other to start. However, now that the cargo facility was being created, it
was up to exporters to use it. However, he said that it was unclear how much
cargo could be expected to move through the facility. The KCCI had not been
able to provide details of the quantity of exports through the airport though
the New Mangalore Port and 30 other exporters and importers around Mangalore
were mentioned as potential users of the airport.
A report submitted by Visvesvaraya Industrial
Trade Centre (VITC) to Government of Karnataka had said that Mangalore was the
best place among all districts to export from, he said.
“Quantifying is the one problem…Customs has to
give us this information. It is not clear to the Federation of Indian Export
Organisations (FIEO) also, which has only certain information,” he said.
“We have the infrastructure (in Mangalore
airport), we have to create the demand,” he said. The KCCI has a role in this
and the MPEDA had indicated that 20 to 25 tonnes of marine products could be
exported from Mangalore, Gangolli, and Malpe, he said. “Potential can be
created in Mangalore,” he said.
D. Purushotham, Commissioner of Customs,
Mangalore, spoke on the promotion of the air cargo complex at Mangalore
airport. He said that Customs was ready to start export work once approvals
were done.
The KCCI representatives said the chamber had
sufficient figures of exports and had presented it to Customs. At the end of
the meeting, it issued a document with data on air cargo expected to move
through Mangalore airport. It mentioned 50,075 MTPA (metric tonnes per annum)
of exports and 735 MTPA of imports.
· It handled 9.29 lakh passengers
in the last one year
· ‘Picture still clear about the
potential for air cargo’
No comments:
Post a Comment