NEW DELHI – Shashi Tharoor, a senior politician in the Congress party, has spoken out against rumors that Air India plans to cut back on its services from Kerala’s airports. The MP from Thiruvananthapuram wrote a letter to Campbell Wilson, the Managing Director of Air India, and then posted about it on X. He talked about how flights from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, and Kannur would be canceled between late October and March. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has not yet officially issued the winter flight schedule for this time period.
Tharoor stressed how important these flights are for Kerala, saying that it is “one of the busiest aviation hubs in the country, with exceptionally high international passenger traffic, particularly to the Gulf region.” He said that any such cut would cause “severe hardship” for the state’s enormous population of migrant workers, students, tourists, and families, as well as hurt important commerce and tourism sectors.
The Congress leader was very clear when he criticized the airline’s approach. He said that Air India was “treating Kerala as an afterthought” and that this move came after they stopped offering business-class services on the Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram journey, which he called “the longest single-sector flight in India.” He said that this earlier choice “already added insult to injury.”
Tharoor said he was personally disappointed and remembered how he used to name Air India his “favorite airline” in public. “But when facts change, opinions can change too,” he said, adding a warning. I hope everyone involved will pay heed. He warned that if the airline keeps “disregarding Kerala’s interests,” consumers might not think twice about switching to a competitor. He especially named IndiGo and Akasa Air as airlines “waiting in the wings” to provide passengers “the attention we deserve.”
People in the Indian diaspora are already worried about the developments that have been reported. Air India Express, a part of Air India, has said that it would stop flying from Kuwait to Kozhikode and Kannur. A lot of people in the Indian diaspora are upset about this decision because they say it will make life very hard for thousands of passengers from the Malabar region of Kerala who rely on these direct flights.
People will be watching closely to see if Air India listens to Tharoor’s warning and the widespread worry over the projected cuts when the winter flight schedule comes out, which is usually in late October.