Onam gives a cargo high for Cochin International Airport

KOCHI: This Onam the Cochin International Airport is roaring to new heights in its cargo transportation with the export of perishable cargo which comprises mainly of Onam delicacies including banana chips to the Gulf, making a surge. From September 9 to 14 alone there is an increase of 50 tonnes daily in the increase of non-perishable cargo taking the total tonnage a day to over 200. On Saturday, the Dubai-based Emirates alone operated an additional flight with 100 tonnes of non-perishable cargo.

The plantain both big and small varieties, the plantain leaf and vegetables apart from various Onam delicacies including banana chips comprise the perishable cargo in the Onam season. The others include fruits and fish. “Earlier Coimbatore had a fair share in bringing these cargo to Kochi but with organic farming catching up in different places across the state, the vegetables from the state are now high in demand abroad and hence the share of such cargo from the state has shot up giving Coimbatore tight competition,” said a CIAL official.

He said that cargo worth Rs 12,000 crore moves through Cochin airport a year which includes gold and diamond. “The weight of the cargo comes to 64,000 tonnes a year in the international sector of which 60 percent had been perishable cargo in the previous years which has now shot up to 80 percent. In the domestic sector the cargo  comes to 10,000 tonnes,” he added. The movement of vegetables though the airport has increased by 50 percent in the past one year. “With wide bodies aircraft diverted from Kozhikode to Kochi airport, the volume has gone up remarkably,” the official added.