Riding high on the recovery of passenger traffic during the post-pandemic period, the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is set to expand its wings further by embarking on a major route expansion to include various Far East and West Asian destinations. With this, the airport aims at tapping the travel demands of the capital’s burgeoning middle class and working class. For the first time after COVID-19, an airline will start operations from here to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Malaysia Airlines has opened the bookings for two weekly flights from Thiruvananthapuram to Kuala Lumpur starting on November 9. After Malindo Air ceased its operations on Thiruvananthapuram-Malaysia route during the pre-pandemic period, this is the first time the Capital is getting a flight to Kuala Lumpur. This will benefit transit passengers heading to Australia/New Zealand apart from holidaymakers and the Tamil diaspora from south Tamil Nadu who work in Malaysia, said airport authorities.
Further, Etihad Airways has informed the airport authorities that they would start a daily flight to Abu Dhabi in January. Oman Air will also launch a daily service from Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat from October first week. Sri Lankan Airlines that currently operates six weekly flights from Thiruvananthapuram will increase the frequency to seven a week. The increase in flight operations is in tune with the rise in passenger traffic through the airport, which clocked an average daily footfall of 12,420 passengers in August 2023, compared to 9,000 passengers in August 2022.
There was a 15% increase in weekly international flights during the ongoing summer schedule when compared to the previous winter schedule, with the air traffic movements through the airport (ATMs) increasing to 258 in the summer schedule from 224 weekly flights in the previous winter schedule. The new winter schedule is expected to come into effect from October 29, which is expected to see international flight movements climbing up to over 280 per week from the airport, said airport sources.
