Direct flights from Kannur to Muscat soon

Direct flights to Muscat from the new Kannur airport in Kerala, which will be inaugurated on December 9, are expected to be announced shortly.

Two India-based budget airlines, Air India Express and Goair are expected to announce their services in coming days, subject to approvals.

Speaking to the Observer, a top Air India official in Muscat said that a notification in this regard is expected from the management soon. According to reports quoting Kannur airport officials, Goair will start operations to Muscat along with other GCC cities of Abu Dhabi and Dammam, to be followed by Doha and Kuwait. Observer is awaiting a reply from Goair in this regard.

A top official of an Oman-based airline recently said: “We are keen on starting operations to Kannur, but a lot depends on negotiations. We are positive about the outcome.” Many Indian expatriates from Kerala are from areas in and around Kannur. At present, they have to take an almost two- to four-hour journey to reach Karippur or Mangalore.

“We have to spend a lot of time and money to reach our homes from the current airport in Calicut,” said Rashid, a resident of Taliparamba town.

The travel time from Payyanur town to the new airport is 1.5 hours as against 4.4 hours to the Calicut airport. The new airport, with a 3,050-metre-long runway, can serve more than a million passengers annually.