THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Visa on
arrival will be implemented at the Trivandrum International Airport by January.
"The
matter is in its final leg of approvals and pending with the Union home
ministry. We are expecting it to be implemented in a month," MoS civil
aviation K C Venugopal told
a news conference after a high-level meeting to review the developmental works
and discussion on travel-related issues pertaining to the airport.
Asked if Air India SATS
Airport Services Pvt Ltd would carry out the below wing operations for Air
India and Air India Express flights at the airport, which means that the
national carrier would suffer a loss of around Rs 8 crore annually as it would
have to pay for the JV that was initially free, he said no decision had been
taken to give Air India's flights to Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd
here. "However, the JV will continue to operate at Trivandrum Airport
while Air India Air Transport Services Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of Air
India, has been given the ground handling at the Cochin International Airport."
TOI had
previously reported how MP K V Thomas had written to union civil aviation
ministerAjit Singh recommending that Air India Singapore
Airport Terminal Services Ltd be given permission to conduct ground-handling
services at Cochin International Airport.
Putting to rest rumours that the Air India Express headquarters
would be shifted to Trivandrum to complement its MRO facility here, Venugopal
stressed that the AIE headquarters would continue to operate from Kochi. The
biggest developmental issue discussed by the chief minister was the multi-modal
hub project mooted by the airport director.
A consultancy study will be conducted by the Kerala Road Fund
Board, the MoS said. 2020 has been set as the deadline for completing
Aeropolis, an industrial hub for aviation-related activities with the MRO as
its spine and with an investment of around Rs 2,500 crore.
This will include the monorail project passing through the TIA.
The MoS also said there was no move to give the KSIE complex to
a private party. He said flights that were taken off the schedule from
Trivandrum International Airport will be reinstated in four months when the new
pilots join.
The other development decisions taken at the meeting include
commissioning a new radar system at the airport by June, fully operationalizing
the MRO by February and a new aerobridge at the domestic terminal and CCTV for
domestic terminal by March.
MP Shashi Tharoor said he was opposed to building a new
domestic terminal and did not support any more land acquisition for the
purpose.
The meeting was attended by AAI chairman V P Agarwal; Capt
Pushpinder Singh, deputy chief operating officer AIE; H R Jagannath, chief of
engineering, Air India Express; airport director V N Chandran; joint
secretaries (civil aviation) Alok Sinha and Asok Kumar.
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