Airlines planning to suspend services from Kozhikode

Owing to the huge loss in revenue following the ‘fare war’, more airlines are getting ready to suspend their services or cut down the frequency of the flights from Kozhikode International Airport. 

Etihad Airways and Emirates will reduce the frequency of the flights and Jet Airways also will cancel its Doha flights in the coming week. Other leading lowcost, no-frills airlines also will suspend services soon enough. 

The full service airline companies cannot survive with the new fares and they are forced to cut fares on a par with the low-cost services of Indian Airlines and Air India. 

A senior Air Arabia official told The New Indian Express that the poor demand from the passengers is the main reason for the revenue loss which results in the suspension of the services to Kozhikode. 

“There are almost 2600 seats available a day, but the demand is only around 1500,” he said. 

A Kozhikode-Dubai air ticket costs only Rs 6500 for a full-service flight of a leading airline which will provide fivestar food and other facilities for the passengers. 

A Jet Airways official said passengers’ demand the same fare of Air- India Express for a full-service airline. And the private companies are forced to provide five-star facilities on the same ticket fare of low-cost airlines. 

As of now, the fares have come down to an unrealistic-level as compared with those a few months ago. At this yield, only ‘full load’ flight can be operationally profitable.” “We think all airlines are equally to blame for the situation, said an aviation expert. 

The companies launch their services without any prior studies on sectoral requirements.” However, Saudi Airways and Bahrain Airways plan to launch their services from Kozhikode next month. 

Sri Lankan Airways and RAK Airways suspended their all services to Kozhikode early in 2009 because of the dip in their revenue.