Kochi airport winter schedule to have 1,576 operations weekly

There will be 134 weekly flights to the UAE. Thai Airways and VietJet will increase flight frequencies and there will be additional daily flights to Chennai, Bangaluru, Pune and Hyderabad, says CIAL

Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has announced its winter schedule, effective between October 27, 2024 and March 29, 2025. The highlight of the winter schedule is that there will be 1,576 weekly operations, as against the 1,480 operations for the ongoing summer schedule 2024.

There will be 134 weekly flights to the UAE. Thai Airways and VietJet will increase flight frequencies and there will be additional daily flights to Chennai, Bangaluru, Pune and Hyderabad, said a communication from CIAL here on Wednesday (October 23, 2024).

CIAL’s summer schedule will see 28 airlines, among which 26 are international carriers operating 336 weekly departures to international destinations. Air India Express tops the list with 51 weekly departures to international destinations, whereas IndiGo will have 41 departure operations weekly.

The other airlines are: Etihad – 28, Air Arabia, Abu Dhabi – 28, Air Asia – 18, Air India – 17, Air Arabia, Akasa, Emirates, Oman Air, Singapore Airlines – 14 each.

As per the winter schedule, the total number of weekly services to the UAE will be 134. There will be 67 weekly departures to Abu Dhabi. Dubai comes second with 46 operations from Kochi. Etihad will operate additional seven weekly flights to Abu Dhabi whereas VietJet is all set to operate daily flights to Vietnam.

Thai Airways is increasing the frequency from three to five weekly premium flights to the Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok. With this, there will be 15 weekly services to Bangkok from Kochi.

Domestic sector

In the domestic sector, weekly flights in the 2024 winter schedule includes 112 flights to Bangaluru, 75 to Mumbai, 63 to Delhi, 61 to Chennai, 52 to Hyderabad, 15 to Agatti, 14 each to Ahmedabad and Kolkata, 13 to Pune and seven each to Kozhikode, Goa, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram and five to Salem.

Air India Express will operate additional 10 flights per week to Bangaluru, seven flights per week to Chennai, six to Pune and five weekly flights to Hyderabad. Akasa Air will operate additional daily flights to Ahmedabad. This results in a total of 788 arrivals and 788 departures each week, encompassing both international and domestic services.

CIAL entered the 1,000-crore club in the financial year 2023-24 and became the only airport in Kerala to facilitate 10 million passengers in a calendar year as well as in a financial year.

In order to accommodate the surge in passenger traffic, CIAL is set to expand its international terminal, T3. Foundation stone for the apron work was laid on October 2, 2023 and has already completed the work on 11 lakh sq ft in 12 months. The total apron area will now be increased from 20 lakh sq ft to 36 lakh sq ft.

Published - October 23, 2024 04:34 pm IST