NRIs not happy with staggered take-off of Air Kerala

New Delhi: For most of the delegates who had come from the Gulf to attend the 5th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in the Capital, there was a lot of unhappiness with the aviation scene, especially over the staggered/grounded take-off of Air Kerala. Yusuff Ali MA, from the UAE, said that although the VS Achutanandan-led state govt was keen on allowing Air Kerala to take-off, the Centre was not so willing.
"The Kerala govt has been willing to let the airline services take off. But the Centre has not been so encouraging in this regard," Ali, said.
C K Menon, a previous Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awardee winner from Qatar, concurred with Ali and said that Air Kerala takeoff would prove beneficial for the 4-million Keralites based out of the Gulf.
Nair however, was very upset with Air India for "neglecting the UAE sector". Although he was "thankful to the public carrier for carrying dead bodies free", Nair said that the Gulf is treated as the least important sector despite spinning high revenues for the carrier.
"Between Dec 2006 and Jan 2007 so far, there have been 22 cases of flight delays. Despite Riyadh, Amman and Jeddah being important points in the Gulf, there are fewer number of flights for these points," Nair said.
07/01/07 Lopamudra Ghatak/Times of India

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