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Title : Need to increase the frequency of Gulf-bound Air India flights from Calicut.
SHRI M.K. RAGHAVAN (KOZHIKODE): I wish to highlight a very serious issue relating to the cancellation of most of the flights operated by the Air India. Most of the Gulf-bound Air India flights from Calicut are being withdrawn and both foreign and private players are filling this gap. Some flights are also being operated by Air India Express. Air India Express has no base in most of the Gulf countries which is helping the local foreign carriers to facilitate the passengers from Gulf. In fact, Air India was operating around 80 flights per week from Sharjah alone which has now been drastically reduced. Most of the Indian destinations like Coimbatore, Goa Bangalore and in Kerala which was the monopoly of Air India, have been taken over by the Air Arabia. This is also adversely affecting the passengers in all respect including the baggage policy adopted by different airlines. With the withdrawal of Air India the upper class travellers are also switching over to other airlines which indirectly causes a loss to the national carriers.
I would like to urge the Government to reconsider the move and restore the Air India schedules to the Gulf.