The Hindu Business Line : Air Sahara keen on making Kochi a hub for South

AIR Sahara is seriously considering to make Kochi as a hub in the South on account of the increase in the passenger movement from the southern region, Mr Uttam Kumar Bose, Chief Executive Officer, Air Sahara has said.

Kochi is the fourth largest destination in the country after metros in traffic movement and very soon, the airline will have a connectivity from Kerala to various south Indian destinations and also to Colombo, which is expected to be operational by the end of this year, he said at a press conference here on Thursday.

Mr Bose, who was here in connection with first anniversary of Air Sahara operations from Kochi, said that South is one of the important target destination particularly due to the tourism potential in the Kerala region. He also cited the example of Goa where the number of flights had increased because of tourism related activities.

He said that the company already held discussions with the State Government to reduce the sales tax on aviation fuel so that it could able to bring down the fares.

Kerala tops in sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by charging 24 per cent. Earlier it had charged 34 per cent whereas in Andhra Pradesh, it is 4 per cent, which is the lowest.

He also mentioned about the high handling charges in Kochi International Airport, which is four times more than that of other airports in the country.

Referring to the airline industry in India, he said it is growing at a rate of 16 per cent in the last four months of the current fiscal as against 7-8 per cent registered in the previous year. Considering the growth, Air Sahara has chalked out plans to operate more flights in the domestic as well as in the international sector.

The company is commencing services to SAARC countries such as Kathmandu and Dhaka by next month and is awaiting the formal approval to start international services. The Government should also concentrate in modernising the airports by improving the infrastructure on account of the growth in the industry.

Air Sahara, with a market share of 20 per cent in the domestic air travel, currently operates 121 flights to various destinations including daily flights to Colombo from Bangalore as well from Chennai.

The company had a fleet of 21 aircrafts, which included both wide-bodied and small 50-seater aircrafts.

There were plans to induct five more Canadian Regional Jets (CRJ) thereby making its strength to 12, he added.