By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : A leading NRI businessman from Kerala Saturday urged MPs from the state to work for establishing Kerala Airlines, a low-cost airline service for the Gulf region.
M.K. Yusuffali, director Infrastructure Kerala Ltd (InKel), a state government initiated company to mobilise NRI funds for infrastructure development, said that millions of people from Kerala living abroad are keen to see their long-standing dream of having a state-owned airline fulfilled.
He said that when the project for Cochin International Airport Limited – the country’s first airport with private participation – was floated, many were apprehensive whether it would be successful.
“Many had refused to take its shares. Now all those shareholders are not disappointed. The same will happen in the case of Kerala Airlines too,” Yusuffali told reporters here.
“But MPs from the state should take it seriously. It could be a reality if they campaign vigorously for it,” said the businessman, the first non-Arab to be elected as chairman of the UAE Chamber of Commerce.
It was former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy who had floated the idea of a state-owned airline for low-cost services to the Gulf region. The total paid up capital of the company would be Rs.1 billion, and the Kerala government would hold 26 percent stake with the rest from the general public, mostly non- resident Keralites.
Around 1.5 million people from Kerala work in the Gulf region.