By IANS
Kozhikode (Kerala) : Air Arabia became the first international airline to operate service from Kozhikode airport when its flight to Sharjah took off at 6.50 p.m. Tuesday.
The flight landed at Kozhikode at 5.40 p.m. with 165 passengers from Sharjah accompanied by Air Arabia chief executive officer Adil Ali.
The Kozhikode airport got the sanction for service by a foreign airline after a long drawn agitation by various organisations here. Air India was enjoying monopoly in operating flights to the Gulf region from this airport.
“Initially Air Arabia will operate services on three days a week – Wednesday, Friday and Sunday,” said A. Madhavan, public relations officer of the airline.
He added: “The flight will leave Sharjah at 10 a.m. and will reach Kozhikode at 1.40 p.m. The return flight will depart from Kozhikode 2.20 p.m. and reach Sharjah at 6.30 p.m.”
“As an introductory offer till March 31, we are charging only Rs.3,777 from Kozhikode to Sharjah. The company will increase the frequency of service to six days a week from May this year,” he added.