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Trivandrum travel agents threaten to boycott Air-India

D Jose in Trivandrum

The raging controversy in Kerala over Air-India's alleged neglect of the international airport at Trivandrum has reached a flash point with the airline ruling out the possibility of introducing Jumbo flights from here in the near future.

Representatives of the travel trade in the state capital have threatened to boycott the national carrier if it does not keep its word to operate Jumbo services from the airport.

Air-India's refusal has come after the airport had been readied to handle wide-bodied aircraft. While the Airports Authority of India spent Rs 100 million on runways, aprons and taxiways, the state government removed more than 700 trees despite stiff resistance from environmentalists and locals.

Air-India, which had reportedly offered to operate Boeing 747s once the airport's facilities had been augmented, is now saying that operating Jumbo jets from the airport is unviable. "We cannot think of bringing Jumbos to the airport unless we are assured of their commercial viability," said Regional Director P K Sinha.

Sinha said the traffic potential in the Trivandrum region is not adequate to justify Jumbo operations. The airport caters to a population of only six million as against Cochin's 11 million and Kozhikode's 12 million.

He said Air-India had suffered a loss of 24 per cent in Trivandrum in 1998-99 over the previous year, while Cochin and Kozhikode had registered growth of 1 and 16 per cent, respectively. "We have to take our business interests into account," he said.

But representatives of the travel trade view Air-India's reluctance to introduce Jumbo jets in Trivandrum after withdrawing as many as 17 flights from the capital as an affront to the people and the travel trade of the region.

"This is part of a larger conspiracy to undermine the airport's international status," said K C Chandrahasan of the International Association of Travel Agents. "How can the airline justify the withdrawal of flights from Trivandrum when other airlines have been sustaining operations profitably?"

Kuwait Air and Silk Air have taken over the services withdrawn by Air-India on the Trivandrum-Kuwait and Trivandrum-Singapore routes, respectively.

The travel trade representatives maintain that if Cochin can have Jumbo jets, Trivandrum, which has been the backbone of Air-India's Gulf operations and revenue generation since 1978, can too. "We are ready to fill the aircraft if Air-India commences operations," said K V Muralidharan, president of the Kerala Association of Travel Agents.

But the travel trade outside Trivandrum feels the campaign against Air-India is in fact directed against the Nedumbasserry airport in Cochin. "The Trivandrum lobby is making such allegations as the diversion of some flights from there to Cochin has hurt their business," said a tour operator based in the port city.

"But there is no need to feel aggrieved because Trivandrum airport has only the international status while Cochin has the requisite facilities," he argued. "How can an airport that does not have minimum facilities like air-conditioned terminals, customs and emigration clearance facilities, parking space, and other passenger amenities, attract more aircraft?"

Air-India's Gulf regional director George Tharakan said his airline was being whipped for the ills of the airport and made the target of baseless accusations. One such allegation, he told rediff.com, is that Air-India had promoted Cochin at Trivandrum's cost. He pointed out that Air-India has 433 seats per week in Trivandrum as against 522 in Cochin, which has the edge only because of greater demand and better facilities.

Another charge is that Air-India officials in Dubai and their approved agents force passengers to travel to Cochin instead of Trivandrum. "This is an insult to the passengers from Dubai. In fact, on many occasions, Cochin-bound passengers have had to be accommodated on Trivandrum flights because the Cochin flights were full. Even a director of Cochin International Airport Limited was once forced to travel to Trivandrum," he pointed out.

Tharakan said the allegation that Air-India offers discount to Cochin-bound passengers was shocking. "Air-India charges the same fare to both Cochin and Trivandrum and a passenger holding a ticket to Cochin and back can travel back from Trivandrum also if he so desires."

He said the charge that Air-India allows excess baggage to passengers travelling to Cochin is absurd. "Passengers to all destinations in India from Dubai are being allowed 40kg baggage allowance. It is only on Airbus 300s, during summer months, when the departure is during daytime, that the baggage allowance is brought down to 20kg owing to payload restrictions on account of the heat."

Tharakan said the allegations were being made by people trying to damage Air-India's reputation.

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