Saudi flight to take off from Kochi on Sunday

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has announced that flight services to Saudi Arabia will begin on Sunday. In a press release issued on Saturday, CIAL said that 395 passengers will board the first service (Saudia SV 3573) to the Kingdom that had recently lifted a ban on international arrivals from India.

Saudi Arabia’s National Carrier Saudia has scheduled seven departures till September 30.

Meanwhile, the Cochin Airport authorities informed that it has been witnessing a higher volume of passengers in recent days since the services to the UAE became operational.

On Sunday alone, CIAL has scheduled 17 international departures (Four each to Sharjah and Dubai, Five to Doha, and one each to Male, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and London).

"CIAL is about to handle 6,069 international passengers on Sunday alone. Out of this, 4,131 are departing passengers," CIAL said in a press release.

Saudia has scheduled three more flights for the week. On September 2, Indigo will commence operations to Saudi and the airline has scheduled 12 flights in the coming weeks, CIAL said.

CIAL Managing Director S Suhas said that the airport operator has already initiated hectic discussions with the International Carriers to start more services in the sector.

"CIAL will schedule more departure operations to the Middle East in the coming days. We are happy that all major international and Indian airlines have confirmed their schedules for this Sector. As per the instruction of the chairman and the Board of Directors, CIAL has already made the arrangements to facilitate hassle-free passenger movement at Cochin International Airport," said Suhas.