Kerala Demands International Airport Hub

The new draft Civil Aviation Policy stipulates that only six metro airports will be developed as International Hubs. Cochin International Airport in Kerala is the 4th in terms of carrying international passengers, and if all the three airports are combined, it will be the third.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has completely ignored this fact, and decided that airports with lesser passenger volume will be developed as international hubs. a huge number of expatriates use the current services to Kerala airports. If the policy comes into effect, they will be forced to use the hub airports at the metros, incurring additional expenses and hassle.

This policy is clearly formulated to help the private players who developed the airports in the metros, and is totally against the passengers. We, the petitioners demand that the policy of restricting international services to the hubs shall not be made, and the services shall be market driven. If such a policy is to be made, it must consider the traffic volumes into account while deciding the hubs.