With Centre averse to chartered flights, Kerala plans passenger ships to Gulf

With all its efforts to improve travel services to Gulf countries coming to a naught, the Kerala government has reportedly decided to launch passenger ships for its huge migrant population.

According to 2020 figures, Kerala’s diaspora in the Gulf counties was about 3.5 million.

The state zeroed in on the ship services — which will significantly increase the time but commensurately reduce the cost — after the Centre refused to clear its proposal to introduce chartered flights, Onmanorama has reported.

Arbitrary hike in flight fares

The plan to introduce chartered flights reportedly came after an arbitrary hike in flight fares to Gulf countries from Kerala by airlines. For instance, in July-August this year, flight fares had gone up some five times as Keralites sought to return to work after a summer break at home, with high demand pushing up fares to more than Rs 40,000. Interestingly, the same flights from those countries to Kerala cost five times less, around Rs 8,000–9,000.

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To ease things for its expat population, the Kerala government had approached the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation with the proposal to introduce chartered flights. It held several meetings with the ministry as well as various airlines.

Centre plays spoilsport

However, the Centre dragged its feet citing the fact that international flights involved agreements between the governments of two countries and it was not a state subject per se. The Centre also argued that chartered services might imply losses for airlines, which may reduce the number of regular flights to that state.

The Kerala government had even included the chartered flight proposal in its 2023-24 Budget and earmarked Rs 15 crore for the project. The state had planned to meet any losses airlines might suffer while operating chartered flights to Gulf countries at moderate fares.

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However, with that plan falling apart, Kerala has decided to go ahead with the plan to introduce passenger ships. So far, four companies have shown an interest in the project, with two of them submitting project reports to the government. These two firms are the Kozhikode-based Jabal Ventures and the Chennai-based White Sea Shipping Lines.

Will plan take off?

However, the project’s feasibility is slightly questionable. An earlier report in Onmanorama said a ticket on such a ship would cost Rs 10,000 per head. The journey time would vary from three to five days depending on the destination. For instance, Dubai would be three days away, while it’s merely four and half hours by flight. So, if airlines reduce their fares once again, passengers are highly likely to go back to flights.

Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the plan takes off or gets grounded even before that like the ambitious Air Kerala project, which was the state government’s plan to launch a new airline with 26 per cent stakes.