Kerala chief minister writes to Centre seeking additional flights from the Gulf this festive season

Requested Hon'ble PM @narendramodi ji's urgent intervention to curb the skyrocketing airfares from Gulf countries to Kerala during peak festival seasons. Also sought approval for flights to be operated by GoK at reasonable rates for low income emigrants during upcoming vacations.

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) March 30, 2023

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State government to operate flights

Vijayan, in a letter, said that major festivals for Keralites such as Vishu, Easter and Ramzan were falling in the second and third week of April, and in view of the exorbitant airfares in the India-Gulf sector, the state government had decided to operate additional or chartered flights at reasonable rates for low-income emigrants in Gulf nations.

“I request you to direct the Civil Aviation Ministry to accord the necessary approvals expeditiously for the additional or charter flight operations booked by the government of Kerala from the second week of April 2023,” he said.

The Kerala chief minister said the number of seats available for sale to or from a foreign sector was determined through a bilateral agreement with the Indian government.

“As this permitted number of seats is fully utilised by scheduled carriers currently unless the Union government grants exemption or relaxation, they will not be able to operate any additional flights.

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Needs approval of MCA

“Only by obtaining such approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the foreign or Indian aircraft operator can operate additional or charter flights to India from the Gulf,” he said.

Stating that the Centre’s intervention was necessary, as exorbitant airfares from the Gulf nations to Kerala, especially during peak or festive seasons, “has been a vexing problem”, he said these rates are unaffordable to many, particularly migrant workers.

“The airline operators have not responded favourably to various requests from migrant organisations and the Kerala government in the recent past to fix airfares at reasonable levels,” Vijayan said.

As a result, millions of migrant workers are forced to pay exorbitant airfares, sometimes to the tune of several months of their meagre savings, to travel to their homes, he added.

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