Nedumbassery: Air Kerala's first flight will take off from Kochi in June. Chairman Afi Ahmed declared Kochi airport as the hub of the airline. The chairman said that the company will operate ultra low cost flights. Smaller cities in South and Central India will be connected to metro cities
ATR aircraft with 76 seats are used for the service. All will be economy class seats. Contracts are in place with Irish companies to lease 5 aircraft. There is also a plan to buy planes on its own. The first of the leased planes will reach Kochi in April. He also said that half of the flight crew will be Malayalis. 750 employees will be in the first phase.
The number of aircraft will be increased to 20 within 2 years of operation. Then there is a plan to start foreign services. The first overseas service will be to the Gulf region. Minister P. Rajiv presided over the announcement ceremony. MPs Hybi Eden, Haris Biran, Anwar Sadat MLA, Airport Director G.Manu, Air Kerala Vice Chairman Ayub Kallada, Chief Financial Officer Kirti Rao, Operations Head Shamon Saeed Muhammad and others spoke.
