TRIVANDRUM, 19 May — Fly or sail, that’s an option that might become available again soon for Gulf-bound travelers from Kerala. Sick of national carrier Air-India’s “callous attitude” toward Kerala, a Congress party MP from the state has vowed to push for the relaunch of a ship service to the Middle East.
Kodikunnil Suresh said yesterday that Union Shipping Minister V.P. Goyal has agreed to a meeting to discuss the relaunch of the service. “I have also urged the state government to take steps necessary for this and they are working on it. The state government has to float new tenders inviting applications from shipping companies,” Suresh told reporters here.
He said several MPs from the state had complained to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about Air-India’s “step-motherly attitude” toward Kerala, which has about 1.6 million of its natives working in the Gulf. “The prime minister has assured me that he would look into the matter.”
A Bahrain-based company had launched a ship service to Kerala last year but had to scrap it because it didn’t measure up to the safety standards. The two trips it had made saw 100 percent occupancy because of the low fare. Keralites allege Air-India has been fleecing them for years. They point out that while a return trip from here to Doha costs around 3,000 Qatari riyals, a round trip from Doha to New York — which is more than three times the distance — costs just 6,660 riyals.
Suresh accused Air-India of misleading a parliamentary committee that studied airfares. “Air-India officials said the fares are fixed by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and they have nothing to do in this regard. But we have come to know from IATA that the airfares are decided by the respective airlines and the civil aviation industry,” he said.
Alleged K.V. Muraleedharan, the president of the Kerala Association of Travel Agents: “Air-India is neglecting certain airports in Kerala, especially the one here. Despite all the arrangements made for night landing and jumbo jet arrivals, Air-India has failed to utilize this. And recently the Air-India office here was downgraded and several officials were transferred.”
