Thiruvananthapuram: Air Kerala, the state government's airline,
would be launched on April 14, 2013, to coincide with Vishu, new year's day in
the Malayalam calendar, says Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. "It (Air
Kerala) will be airborne on April 14. The only question is whether the first
flight will be an international or domestic one," said Chandy.
He added, "Next month,
we will be applying to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with the
preliminary capital of Rs 100 crore, which we will raise by then," Chandy,
who is convalescing after a leg injury, told IANS during an exclusive chat.
The chief minister
explained that under the rules, an airline can only fly international routes
after completing five years of domestic service; there is also a stipulation
about the number of aircraft that an airline operating internationally should
have.
"But Air India Express
was given a relaxation in rules when it started international operations. They
said it was because it was a subsidiary of Air India. So, when the state
government put up the application, we also sought similar exemption. Moreover,
at the moment, we are given to understand that one foreign airline is allowed
to fly in here, without observing these stipulations," Chandy said.
Chandy first took up the
project in 2004. After he stepped down in 2006, the project lay in cold
storage, during the tenure of the Left government. On returning as chief
minister last May, one of the first decisions Chandy took was to revive this
project. He has received support from Malayali businessmen in the Middle East.
"We have, in
principle, decided to float shares of Rs 10,000 each and we were surprised when
our own Malayalee businessmen there (in the Middle East) who employ thousands
of employees agreed to take shares in their employees' names. Each of them
employ more than 20,000 employees, so the issue of raising money of Rs 500
crore is not at all a problem. We are confident our dream will soon take
flight," Chandy said.
Chandy has drawn out a
schedule, and fixed April 14 as the target date for launch of the new airline.
And if Air Kerala is unable to fly international, it will at least take to
domestic skies. With Air India having opened a brand new hangar facility in the
Thiruvananthapuram airport, Air Kerala, on entering into a contract with Air
India and paying the maintenance charges, can use the hangar here, the chief
minister said. Air Kerala will also have access to the engineering department
of Air India, so it will not need to recruit engineers, he added.
Air India was given the
land for setting up the hangar free of cost by the Kerala government. What this
means, though, is that Air Kerala can only lease B 737-800 aircraft; these are
what the hangar here is equipped to service.
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