: Kochi’s dream of having direct flights to European destinations remains distant, with both Middle East and European airliners turning their back on the idea.
Hundreds of fliers from the state have been demanding direct connectivity from CIAL to European airports.
German airliner Lufthansa evinced some interest until a year ago, but developed cold feet as they reckoned the earnings would be limited: for one, there was no likelihood of getting substantial numbers of business class passengers to head for European destinations from Kochi.
“Since Kochi doesn’t have big businesses, there would be hardly any executives flying business class to European destinations on a regular basis. So, Lufthansa felt such flights would be economically unviable, and hence they backed out,” said informed sources. For the same reason, Air India is also not keen either, it is learnt.
Sources said Gulf/Middle East airlines are keen on routing their services to Europe through their hubs in that region, as is being done now, and hence keep away from starting direct flights.
“The routing through the Middle East ensures a steady revenue for them. This includes the shopping revenue in these airports during transit time,” said an aviation official.
Moreover, the airliners operate A320 aircraft for flights to Middle East countries which have just three to four hour flying time, whereas for a long-haul trip to European destinations directly, they need to have larger and much expensive aircraft, entailing higher investment.
CIAL had announced a slew of concessions to allow airliners start direct flights to Europe. As per estimates, the annual average outbound movements to Europe from the three Kerala airports stood at around 1.68 lakh while the daily average passenger movement to Europe from Kochi is around 450.
Hundreds of fliers from the state have been demanding direct connectivity from CIAL to European Airport
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130302/news-current-affairs/article/direct-europe-flights-remain-distant-dream
Hundreds of fliers from the state have been demanding direct connectivity from CIAL to European airports.
German airliner Lufthansa evinced some interest until a year ago, but developed cold feet as they reckoned the earnings would be limited: for one, there was no likelihood of getting substantial numbers of business class passengers to head for European destinations from Kochi.
“Since Kochi doesn’t have big businesses, there would be hardly any executives flying business class to European destinations on a regular basis. So, Lufthansa felt such flights would be economically unviable, and hence they backed out,” said informed sources. For the same reason, Air India is also not keen either, it is learnt.
Sources said Gulf/Middle East airlines are keen on routing their services to Europe through their hubs in that region, as is being done now, and hence keep away from starting direct flights.
“The routing through the Middle East ensures a steady revenue for them. This includes the shopping revenue in these airports during transit time,” said an aviation official.
Moreover, the airliners operate A320 aircraft for flights to Middle East countries which have just three to four hour flying time, whereas for a long-haul trip to European destinations directly, they need to have larger and much expensive aircraft, entailing higher investment.
CIAL had announced a slew of concessions to allow airliners start direct flights to Europe. As per estimates, the annual average outbound movements to Europe from the three Kerala airports stood at around 1.68 lakh while the daily average passenger movement to Europe from Kochi is around 450.
Hundreds of fliers from the state have been demanding direct connectivity from CIAL to European Airport
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130302/news-current-affairs/article/direct-europe-flights-remain-distant-dream
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