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International status for Nedumbaserry airport in Kochi sparks off intense lobbying

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

With the Nedumbaserry airport getting 'international status', the Thiruvananthapuram airport lobby has suddenly become active.

Various delegations have started making a beeline for New Delhi to plead the cause of the Thiruvananthapuram airport, which got international status in 1991.

A Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, delegation consisting of leaders from the feeder areas of the airport was the first to make it to Delhi after the central government accorded international status to the Nedumbasserry airport.

The delegation led by BJP state president C K Padmanabhan met the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chamanlal Gupta and pressed the demand for making the airport function 24 hours a day.

On its return, the delegates claimed that the minister had assured that steps would be initiated to see that the airport operates round-the-clock.

Another delegation led by the People's Action Forum for Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is now in Delhi and would be meeting the Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav on Wednesday.

Led by Vijayalakshmi, state president of the Janata Dal-United, this group includes a cross section of people.

Their demands include augmentation of facilities at the airport in keeping with its international status, a check on shifting of flights to Kochi and other airports, and starting of round-the-clock operations.

M Vijayakumar, Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, is constituting yet another delegation to visit Delhi next week.

Thiruvananthapuram Mayor M Sivankutty would head the delegation, which expects to meet the civil aviation minister and take up a host of issues, including the construction of an additional terminal in the airport.

The Kerala government has already formed a society for undertaking the construction of the terminal at an estimated cost of Rs 970 million and has sought permission for introducing users' fee to meet part of the costs.

The finance minister has earmarked Rs 100 million in the Budget for 2000-2001 for acquisition of land needed for the terminal.

The lobby headed by the Vijayakumar has had several meetings with the officials of the airport authority and the Kerala government.

He had launched a crusade alleging that the 'north Indian lobby' was choking the development of the airport at the state capital.

The People's Action Forum came into being last year following interaction between the travel trade and the airport authority.

It consists of representatives of travel agents' associations, tour operators' association, Association of Travel Agents, Kerala Union of Working Journalists, domestic, private and foreign airlines and various political parties from within the feeder area of the airports in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The main demand of the forum is a check on diversion of flights from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi following the upgradation of the Nedumbasserry airport.

The forum leaders fear that several foreign airlines might shift their flights to Kochi. Both Air India and Indian Airlines had diverted their flights from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi after the commissioning of the Nedumbasserry airport.

K V Muralidharan, president of Kerala Travel Agents' Association and a leader of the forum, clarified that they were 'not against the development of Kochi airport'.

"However, the development of Kochi should not be at the cost of the Thiruvananthapuram, which was the first to get international status," he said.

He said that the government has not tried to improve the facilities at the airport in line with its international status. According to him, the government had spent only Rs 190 million for improving passenger amenities since the upgradation of the airport.

"Our attempt is to get the facilities upgraded to international standards," Muralidharan told the rediff.com. He said that the facilities at the airport at present would not even do justice to a domestic airport.

"There are only 50 chairs in the departure hall. Toilet facilities in departure and arrival areas are woefully inadequate. There are no separate lounges for first class executive passengers and transit passengers," he said.

Muralidharan said it is unfortunate that the airport is being neglected, though it is the third highest revenue generator, after the ones at Bombay and Delhi.

The airport handles about a million passengers a year, and the existing facilities come under severe strain at times when the airport handles four to five flights a day.

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