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Paramount to enhance service

M. Thiagarajan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Paramount Airways has proposed to enhance intra-State air connectivity in Kerala by linking Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.

Airline Managing Director M. Thiagarajan proposed this to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan when he met him here on Thursday. Paramount will operate more flights to the State and prefers to make Kochi one of its operational hubs.

Briefing reporters about his meeting with Mr. Achuthanandan and the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) managing director Sriram Bhagat, Mr. Thiagarajan said he had offered to reserve 30 to 40 per cent seats for Government officials. Senior Government officials are eligible to travel by second class A/C and they can avail themselves of Paramount’s offer, he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan has agreed to consider the proposal favourably. Though the airline was keen on making Kochi an operational hub, Mr. Thiagarajan said, however, that ground handling charges at the airport were 15 to 20 times higher than in other airports. The landing and parking charges were very high, too.

Mr. Thaigarajan has brought these issues to the notice of the Chief Minister and Mr. Sriram Bharat. They have offered to work out a package to make the operations viable for the company, he said. The airline plans to operate more flights in the Bangalore-Kochi and Bangalore-Kozhikode sectors. There are also plans to increase the number of flights in the Tiruchi-Chennai, Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad-Bangalore sectors.

Detailing the expansion plans of the airline, Mr. Thiagarajan said Paramount would operate flights to Western India by 2008 and North India by 2011. The company planned to operate international flights only after 2011, after consolidating its position within the country.

Having secured a prime position in South India by notching up a 26 per cent market share, Paramount plans to provide in-flight television entertainment and the facility to use mobile phones on board by the third quarter of 2008.

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