Kondotty: Air India Express is set to remarkably reduce or cancel flights from four airports in Kerala to Gulf countries, leading to an average monthly loss of 56,000 seats. Around 75 weekly services and over 300 monthly flights will be affected as a result.

The changes are part of the winter schedule starting from October 26, under which several Gulf-bound services from Kerala will either be reduced or entirely cancelled. Flights from Karipur (Calicut) and Kannur to Kuwait were discontinued as of October 1. Services from Cochin to Salalah and Riyadh, as well as from Kannur to Bahrain, Jeddah and Dammam, are also listed for cancellation. From Thiruvananthapuram, services to Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be withdrawn.

From Calicut, flights to Dammam will drop from seven per week to three; Sharjah flights will reduce from nine to six; and Ras Al Khaimah from seven to four. Muscat flights will be cut from seven to three.

From Cochin, services to Bahrain will reduce from four to two, and to Abu Dhabi from seven to four. The Dubai service will be reduced from seven to six.

In Kannur, Abu Dhabi flights will fall from 10 to seven weekly; Dubai services from eight to seven; Sharjah from 12 to seven; Muscat from seven to four; and Ras Al Khaimah from three to two.

From Thiruvananthapuram, Muscat flights will reduce from seven to four, Doha from four to two, Bahrain will see one flight cancelled, Riyadh will be reduced to one flight, and Sharjah from seven to five.

Kannur alone will see a reduction of 21 weekly services. Air India Express, which had 96 weekly flights on routes to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Jeddah, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dammam, Ras Al Khaimah and Muscat, will cut back to just 54 return services. Weekly reductions include 25 flights from Calicut, 11 from Cochin, and 18 from Thiruvananthapuram.

Kannur suffers biggest blow

The withdrawal by Air India Express hits Kannur the hardest, a region already operating with fewer international services. A total of 42 weekly services, including return flights, are being cancelled. This comes at a time when Kannur International Airport has begun to see a remarkable rise in international passenger numbers — with over one lakh (100,000) international travellers recorded in July and August alone. Notably, over 95% occupancy was observed on Jeddah-bound flights from Kannur.

The majority of Air India Express passengers are ordinary expatriate workers in Gulf countries, attracted by the airline’s low fares. Despite being taken over by the Tata Group, Air India Express continues to be seen as a national carrier by many travellers.