Water inside Kochi airport (TOI photo)

NEW DELHI: With the flooded Kochi airport closed till Saturday afternoon, the aviation ministry has asked airlines to reschedule their flights to the city and operate them to nearby airports of Calicut and Trivandrum. The DGCA has directed airlines not to hike fares on these flights due to the sudden rush. For example, the regulator has asked Delhi-Trivandrum fare should not exceed Rs 10,000.

“We have asked all airlines, domestic and foreign, to reschedule their Cochin flights either from Trivandrum or from Calicut. For international flights, this will require special dispensation which has been granted,” aviation secretary R N Choubey said. Immigration and customs facilities are available throughout the day at these two airports and Trivandrum can also accommodate wide body aircraft.

“We have instructed airport directors of Calicut and Trivandrum to accommodate additional flights in case airlines want to run special flights for Kochi passengers,” Airports Authority of India chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said.

DGCA joint chief Lalit Gupta said in a mail to employees: “In view of closure of Cochin airport on account of water rising in the operational area, all the scheduled operations have been suspended to/from Cochin airport, which may result in increased demand for air travel to/from other airports in Kerala — Trivandrum and Calicut. It may please be ensured that airfares for flights to Kerala are kept at optimal level proportionate to sector distance so that travelling public is not inconvenienced (e.g. For Delhi-Trivandrum sector may not exceed INR 10000/-). Air India has already taken decision in this regard.”

Air India is operating an additional flight to Calicut. Air India Express said in a tweet its “Kochi-Sharjah-Kochi and Kochi-Bahrain-Kochi flights of Thursday will operate to and from Kozhikode. All other Kochi-bound flights will operate from/to Thiruvananthapuram.”

The DGCA has submitted a list to the ministry of Kochi flights that have been rescheduled. “Following flights by foreign airlines have been rescheduled to/from Trivandrum instead of Cochin: Air Arabia: 1 ; Emirates: 2 ; Etihad: 3 ; FlyDubai: 1; Jazeera: 1 ; Oman Air: 2; Qatar: 2 ; Saudia: 1 ; SriLankan: 1,” was the position on Wednesday evening.

“Following foreign airlines have cancelled their flights to Cochin: Gulf Air, Kuwait, Air Asia Behrad, Malindo, Scoot, Silk Air and Thai Air Asia,” the information given to aviation ministry as on Wednesday at 6 pm said.

Meanwhile, most airlines have waived off cancellation and rescheduling charges for passengers booked to fly to and from Kochi. Airlines say they will try to operate extra flights to Kochi to clear the backlog of passengers of cancelled flights when the airport opens.

IndiGo tweeted: “Due to the ongoing flood situation in Kochi, we're offering a cancellation/rescheduling fee waiver to all passengers scheduled to travel on August 16, 17 and 18.”

The ministry has asked domestic airlines to operate relief flights to Trivandrum/Calicut for passengers of diverted Kochi-bound flights, who landed at Bangalore, Coimbatore and Chennai on Wednesday instead of their destination.

