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Air-India to operate B-747s from Thiruvananthapuram By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 19 (IANS) Come October 31 and flag carrier Air-India will begin operating Boeing 747s out of here on flights to the Gulf, it was announced Saturday. This fulfils a long-standing demand of the Kerala Association of Travel Agents (KATA), which had pleaded for greater capacity on Air-India's flights to the Gulf from here. "We are extremely happy that this has finally become a reality. We have been pressurising political parties and all those who matter in this industry to see that Air-India operates jumbo jets on a permanent basis. To start with, they would fly twice a week and this is expected to go up in the future", said KATA chief K.V. Muralidharan at a news conference here. Air-India will initially fly Boeing-747s to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh from here. KATA had even threatened to boycott Air-India for its alleged step-motherly treatment towards the airport here. Three years ago, Air-India shifted 17 flights to destinations in the Middle East to Kochi after the international airport there became operational. "Even today, Air-India is adopting a step-motherly attitude. While there are 34 flights to the Middle East from Kochi, there are just 15 from here," Muralidharan held. Once the B-747 flights started, it would be proved that there was adequate traffic from here, he maintained. Muralidharan was, however, piqued that Thiruvananthapuram had lost out on the new flights that Air-India had planned from December. "Air-India will operate seven new flights from Kochi to various destinations in Europe and the U.S. from December. Not a single new flight will be operated from here. Isn't this discrimination?" asked Muralidharan. Thiruvananthapuram currently handles 65 flights a week to international destinations against 50 from Kochi. --Indo-Asian News Service ---------------------------------------------------------- What's On In Goa: * Oct 16-27: Vipasana meditation, Alto Porvorim * Oct 24-26: Intl conf on trends in hospital care, Cidade de Goa * Oct 25: Bookings start for CellOne, BSNL's cellular service in Goa * Oct 25-27: International conference of Drug Info Assn, Mariott * Oct 26: 100 Years of the Nobel Prize, lecture, Science Centre, 11 am * Oct 26-Oct 30: Painting exhibition, Kala Academy art gallery. * Oct 28: Panjim Passport Office shifts to new EDC Complex premises. * Oct 29-31: Sale of polytechnic trainees garments, Govt Polytech, Panjim * Oct 29-31: Films on architect Le Corbusier, Goa Col. of Architecture * Nov 1-17: Swimming classes for children, others. SAG pool, Fatorda * Nov 1: Antonio Costa's painting exhibition, Fundacao Oriente 6.30pm * Nov 4: Book release, Fr NJ Mascarenhas' on Dr Gama Pinto, Saligao ----------------------------------------------------------
