Kerala Approves Co-Kerala, India's First Cooperative Airline, With Rs 400 Crore Funding Model

Key facts

• Kerala has approved the country's first cooperative airline, provisionally named Co-Kerala, announced by Chief Minister V D Satheesan.
• The airline will be managed by the Kerala Civil Aviation Development Cooperative Society, led by MVR Cancer Centre Chairman C N Vijayakrishnan.
• The venture will be a public-private partnership modelled after Cochin International Airport Limited, with the Chief Minister as Chairman and the State Cooperative Minister as Vice-Chairman.
• Around 200 cooperative societies will invest Rs 2 crore each as equity shares, raising Rs 400 crore without financial burden on the state government.
• Headquartered at Nedumbassery in Kochi, the airline will start with two leased 72-seater aircraft connecting Kerala with Kozhikode, Kannur, Mangaluru, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, expanding later to four and then six aircraft.
• Ticket fares are proposed between Rs 3,500 and Rs 7,000, with discounted last-minute fares for unsold seats up to an hour before departure.
• The project is expected to create around 200 jobs initially, with plans for aviation training institutes.