The four international airports in the State are witnessing a drastic fall in international flyers in the wake of COVID-19 scare.
The volume of daily export of fruits and vegetables to West Asia through the Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode airports had dropped from 140 tonnes to 70 tonnes, causing a dent in foreign exchange earnings.
The Cochin international airport, which handles the highest number of international flights in the State, is the worst-hit as the drop in flyers is in the range of 30-35%.
As many as 21 flights operate weekly in the Kochi-Kuwait sector.
The load in domestic flights operated from Kochi is above 90% and it remained intact even on Tuesday, an airport official said.
At the Thiruvananthapuram international airport, the dip in international flyers is 17%, while it is 15% in the Calicut international airport.
The Kannur international airport, which does not have international flights of any foreign carrier, has a drop of 20% in international flyers.
Due to the drop in flyers, some of the airlines have switched from wide-bodied to narrow-bodied aircraft. Malindo Air, which operates from Malaysia, and Scoot, which operates from Singapore, have reduced the frequency to make the flight operations feasible, Director of the Thiruvananthapuram airport C.V. Ravindran said.
No curbs on cargo
“There is a drop in volume of the export of perishables from the State. We have been taking care to maintain quality and hygiene at all levels. So far, there is no restriction on the export cargo due to the outbreak of COVID-19. As the flights have been restricted to Kuwait, we are resorting to transshipment cargo to send perishables from other ports in West Asia,” secretary, Agricultural Products and Processed Food Exporters Association (APPEXA), Dil Koshy said.
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