CIAL announces winter schedule; 1,202 weekly services planned

Air India Express tops with 44 weekly international departures, whereas Indigo has 42 weekly domestic departures

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has announced its winter schedule for international and domestic sectors, effective from October 30 to March 25, 2023, thus enabling a total of 1,202 weekly services as against 1,160 in the ongoing summer schedule.

The winter schedule indicates that the airport operator is bracing for a strong comeback after the pandemic. The schedule will see 26 airlines operating to destinations abroad among which 22 are international carriers operating 271 weekly departures.

Air India Express tops the list with 44 weekly departures to international destinations, whereas Indigo will have 42 domestic departure operations weekly. There will be 44 weekly departures to Dubai and 25 to Kuala Lumpur.

Flights to 13 cities in the country will include 104 weekly flights to Bengaluru, 56 to Delhi, 42 to Mumbai, 24 to Hyderabad, 52 to Chennai, and 10 to Pune.

There will be daily flights to Agathi, Ahmedabad, Goa, Kannur, Kolkata, and Thiruvananthapuram, said an official release.

CIAL managing director S. Suhas said a blue print for the future had been readied, and that efforts were on to introduce more international carriers and to activate new routes. Owing to measures taken for smooth connectivity during the post-pandemic era, CIAL registered a growth of 92.66% in passenger volume and 60.06% in air traffic movement in the 2021-22 fiscal over the previous fiscal. It thus became the third-busiest airport in the country in terms of international traffic.