Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has announced its winter schedule which will be effective from October 27 till March 29, 2025. A total of 1576 weekly operations are the highlight against 1480 operations for the ongoing summer schedule 2024.
The summer schedule will see 28 airlines among which 26 are international carriers operating 336 weekly departures to international destinations, a press release said.
Air India Express tops the list with 51 weekly departures to international destinations whereas IndiGo will have 41 departure operations weekly. Etihad – 28, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi – 28, Air Asia – 18, Air India – 17, Air Arabia, Akasa, Emirates, Oman Air, Singapore Airlines – all 14, are other prominent carriers operating frequent weekly services.
As per the new winter schedule, the total number of weekly services to UAE alone will be 134. There will be 67 weekly departures to Abu Dhabi alone whereas Dubai comes second with 46 operations from Kochi. Etihad will operate additional 7 weekly flights to Abu Dhabi whereas VietJet is all set to operate daily flights to Vietnam. Thai Airways increases the frequency from 3 to 5 weekly premium flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. With this, there will be 15 weekly services to Bangkok from Kochi.
Coming to the domestic sector, weekly flight status in CIAL’s 2024 winter schedule includes 112 flights to Bangalore, 75 to Mumbai, 63 to Delhi, 61 to Chennai, 52 to Hyderabad, 15 flights to Agatti, 14 to Ahmedabad & Kolkata, 13 to Pune, 7 each to Calicut, Goa, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram and 5 to Salem.
Air India Express will operate an additional 10 flights per week to Bangalore, 7 flights per week to Chennai, 6 to Pune and 5 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 1000 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.
CIAL Managing Director S. Suhas said the company is strenuously trying to reinvent itself to accommodate the growing demands in the Indian aviation sector. The management is focused on upgrading infrastructure to meet the rising passenger numbers and is implementing advanced technologies at every passenger touchpoint, to enhance the travel experience. “CIAL is crafting innovative strategies to manage this expansion and is charting new flight paths for the future, with the vision of transforming Kochi into a central hub for air travel in South India“, he added.
