Kannur Airport Facing Crisis: Resuming Go First Services or Center's Alternative System Needed for Survival

2023-06-06 19:30:00

Wednesday Jun 7, 2023

The Kannur airport, which has recorded 10 lakh passengers within 10 months of its inauguration, is facing a crisis due to the central policy. Air India, Air India Express, Indigo and Go First operated domestic and international services from Kannur. Widebody planes of foreign companies landed in Kannur with passengers during the Covid lockdown. KYAL and the state government had held several discussions to bring in SpiceJet and Vistara airlines. But the central government denied permission for foreign flights. Kannur is in a crisis after the service of Go First Airlines stopped. If the GoFast services are not resumed soon or the Center prepares an alternative system, the number of passengers from Kannur airport will drop significantly. The financial crisis caused the Go First service to stop. Kannur has become an airport where only Air India Express and IndiGo serve. Except the Doha service, all IndiGo services are domestic. Go First operated eight services a day including domestic services to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Dubai, Dammam and Muscat and daily international services to Mumbai. Go First was also the only airline serving Kuwait and Dammam. There were also services to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad. With the stoppage of Go First service, there is a shortfall of 240 services per month. The airline paid an average of Rs 13 lakh per day to Kial. If the service is canceled for a month, the loss will be around 4 crore rupees. The revenue to be received from passenger vehicle parking fee, duty free shop, day hotel and other stalls will also decrease. There is a shortfall of 36,000 passengers per month. The Kannur airport can get out of the crisis only if the Center gives point of call permission for the service of foreign companies. Read on deshabhimani.com