Air India's move to shelve Kochi-London flight to hit UK Malayali diaspora hard

Move would force NRIs, especially those with families, to shell out more money for transit flights to travel back home

- Krishna Kumar K E @ Kochi

Air India's planned discontinuation of its direct flight services on the Kochi-London route in March is set to affect a sizeable number of Malayalis in the United Kingdom. They fear the move will force them to dish out higher amounts for travel back home.

"During peak season, the return trip via transit flight for one person would cost around 1,000 British pounds, which would roughly convert to over ₹1 lakh. So a family of four needs to spend over ₹4 lakh. People usually book this direct flight well in advance even for school holidays, which would cost them around 500-600 British pounds. Naturally, the travel back home will become more expensive," Kiran Tom Sajan, who has been living in the UK for the past five years, told TNIE.