Shashi Tharoor Criticizes Air India Over Reported Flight Cancellations in Kerala

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has expressed strong dissatisfaction with Air India's reported plans to reduce flights to and from Kerala, stating that such actions would negatively impact the state's trade and tourism while driving passengers to competitor airlines. Despite his previous loyalty to Air India, Tharoor warned he might reconsider his preference, declaring on X that the airline "Must stop treating Kerala as an afterthought".

Air India Express, the budget subsidiary of the Tata-owned Air India Group, appears to be at the center of these service reductions.

In his social media post on X (formerly Twitter) which tagged the Tata Group, Tharoor emphasized Kerala's significance as one of India's busiest aviation centers with particularly high international passenger traffic, especially to Gulf countries.

"Any curtailment of services at this stage will inevitably cause severe hardship to migrant workers, students, tourists and families, while also hampering trade and tourism," Tharoor stated in his post.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP added that "Withdrawing business-class services on the longest single-sector flight in India (Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram) has already added insult to injury," highlighting his frustration with the airline's decisions.

"I have written to @airindia MD Campbell Wilson to express my deep concern over reports of large-scale cancellations of @airindiaexpress services from Kerala's airports in the forthcoming winter schedule. According to widely-circulated media accounts, a significant number of flights are being withdrawn from Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur between late October and March," he further explained.

Tharoor concluded his statement with a thinly veiled warning: "I had publicly hailed @airindia as my favourite airline. But when facts change, opinions can change too. I hope all concerned will pay due attention. @TataCompanies."

The Air India Group has not yet issued any response to these concerns. It's worth noting that the winter flight schedule, commencing in late October, has not yet been officially announced by India's civil aviation regulator DGCA.