Budget airline Air Deccan plans to start its first service to Kerala on the Kochi-Delhi sector from December this year, followed by a service to Lakshadweep, according to a top executive of the company.
The airlines' plan was to operate a 186-seat Airbus on the Kochi-Delhi route, Air Deccan Managing Director G R Gopinath told reporters in Kochi.
The idea was to first start the Kochi-Delhi service followed by the Kochi-Agatti service along with some other routes in the state.
Gopinath, who met the Cochin International Airport ltd Managing Director V J Kurien and Airport Director Jiji Ramesh, said the heavy sales tax on aviation turbine fuel in Kerala, and 'exhorbitant' ground handling charges being levied by Air-India at the airport also came up for discussion during their meeting.
He will meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy next week at Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the commencement of services from Kerala. A team of technicians of Air Deccan would visit Kochi airport shortly, he added.
At present 15 million people travel by air on the domestic routes in a year which was very low compared to the country's population.
"Air Deccan was committed to make a change in this trend," he added.
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