West Asia flight disruption through Kochi airport enters third day; taxi drivers bear brunt of cancellations

Flight services to West Asia destinations through Kochi international airport remained disrupted for the third consecutive day on Monday (March 2).

Except for a handful of operations to Muscat in Oman, most outbound and inbound services to destinations across the Gulf continued to be cancelled until the early hours of Tuesday. As of 10 a.m. on Monday, 31 outbound and 28 inbound flights stood cancelled following the closure of airspace in GCC countries in the wake of the stand-off involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.

Among the outbound services, six each to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, five to Doha, three each to Kuwait, Sharjah, and Muscat, two each to Jeddah and Bahrain, and one to Ras Al Khaimah were cancelled. On the inbound side, six flights from Dubai, five each from Abu Dhabi and Doha, four from Kuwait, two each from Muscat, Bahrain, and Sharjah, and one each from Jeddah and Ras Al Khaimah were cancelled.

The otherwise bustling international terminals wore a deserted look, with no clarity yet on when normalcy would return to operations. The airport continued to issue passenger advisories at regular intervals, updating travellers on the latest cancellations.

Livelihood hit

The suspension of international services has severely impacted the livelihood of prepaid taxi operators at the airport. Of the 700 taxis registered, 350 each are deployed at the international and domestic terminals on 15-day rotations.

While drivers at the domestic terminal continue to secure trips, those stationed at the international terminal who typically benefit from more lucrative long-distance rides have been hit hard.

“Some drivers have been waiting at the airport for two to three days without a single trip. If the situation persists, we may have to reconsider the present system so that those dependent on international passengers do not continue to suffer,” said T.Y. Eldho, director board member of the Cochin International Airport Taxi Operators Cooperative Society.