KOCHI: More than two decades after its plan to launch an airline from Kochi, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) continues to carry Air Kerala International Services Ltd (AKISL) as a subsidiary, even though the entire investment in the company has been written off.
CIAL says AKISL was established to develop a low-cost carrier based at Kochi, primarily targeting the large non-resident Keralite population in the Middle East.
But the airline never took off. CIAL's Rs1.06-crore investment in the company has been fully impaired, while the subsidiary had negative net assets of about Rs1.54 crore at the end of FY26.
Interestingly, the old Air Kerala has not disappeared from CIAL's corporate structure. It continues to be listed among CIAL's subsidiaries in the FY26 annual report.
CIAL attributes the continuing difficulty in pursuing the airline model to the regulatory requirement that an airline deploy 20 aircraft or 20 per cent of its fleet, whichever is higher, for domestic operations before undertaking international services. CIAL says this presents operational challenges for the proposed business model.
Another Air Kerala taking wings
Meanwhile, a different private venture has revived the Air Kerala name. Dubai-based investors behind Zettfly Aviation have been developing a new airline that claims to be named Air Kerala, with Kochi as its base and plans to eventually connect with the Gulf.
The contrast is striking: the Air Kerala conceived by CIAL more than two decades ago remains a subsidiary on its books, while another, unrelated private venture is now attempting to get an airline called Air Kerala off the ground.
