Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has announced the winter schedule for the international and domestic sectors, which will be effective from October 30, 2022, to March 25, 2023.

With this schedule becoming effective, CIAL will facilitate a total of 1,202 weekly air traffic movements as against 1,160 in the ongoing summer schedule. The winter schedule indicates that the airport operator is bracing for a strong come back after the pandemic gap.

The schedule will see 26 airlines operating to destinations abroad among which 22 are International carriers operating 271 weekly departures. Air India Express tops the list with 44 weekly departures to international destinations whereas Indigo will have 42 domestic departure operations weekly.

Carriers operating frequent weekly services include...
  • Air Arabia-14
  • Air Arabia Abu Dhabi-7
  • Air India-10
  • Air Asia Berhad-17
  • Emirates Air-14
  • Ethihad Air-7
  • Fly Dubai-3
  • Gulf Air-7
  • Jazeera Air -5
  • Kuwait Air-9
  • Malindo Air IR-7
  • Malaysian Airlines-7
  • Oman Air -14
  • Qatar Air -11
  • Saudi Arabian-14
  • Singapore Airlines-14
  • Spice Jet-7
  • Sri Lankan-10
  • Thai Air Asia-5

There will be 44 weekly departures to Dubai alone.

CIAL has also scheduled 327 domestic operations for the winter season offering connectivity with 13 cities in the country.

It includes...
  • 104 weekly flights to Bengaluru
  • 56 weekly flights to Delhi
  • 42 to Mumbai
  • 24 to Hyderabad
  • 52 to Chennai
  • 10 to Pune.
The number of flights operating to the above mentioned cities includes...
  • Indigo-163
  • Air India-28
  • Air Asia-56
  • Akasa Air-28
  • Alliance Air-21
  • Go Air-14
  • Spice Jet-3
  • Vistara-14

There will be daily flights to Agathi, Ahmedabad, Goa, Kannur, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

S Suhas, Managing Director of CIAL, said, “We are trying to introduce more international carriers and activate new routes. We hope that the commissioning of the general aviation terminal in this year itself will also give impetus to the traffic growth.”

Owing to the measures implemented for ensuring smooth connectivity during the post-pandemic era, CIAL registered a growth of 92.66 per cent in passenger volume and 60 per cent in air traffic movement FY2021-22 compared to the previous fiscal. The period also witnessed CIAL improving its position as the third busiest airport in the country in terms of international traffic.