IndiGo to operate flights from Kochi naval base from Tuesday 

Shortly after Air India subsidiary, Alliance Air, started flight operations from the Kochi naval base on Monday, budget carrier IndiGo also decided to do the same from Tuesday.  

IndiGo, in a statement on Monday, said it would continue to operate eight round-trip relief flights from Kozhikode, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Trivandrum in addition to "flying three daily additional relief flights (round trip) from Kochi naval base effective August 21, 2018, to August 26, 2018", it added.

Alliance Air operated four flights to and from the naval base and ferried around 256 passengers on Monday.

According to reports, Jet Airways may become another airline to join as domestic carriers look to provide more air connectivity to flood-ravaged Kerala. Cochin International Airport, which is currently shut in the wake of the deluge, is expected to resume operations after August 26. 

Last week, aviation regulator DGCA asked scheduled domestic airlines to mount additional flights in view of the closure of the Cochin airport.

Kerala, which has been battling severe flooding, landslides and unabated rainfall, witnessed relief from heavy rainfall on Monday. The MeT department withdrew red alert for the state, warming of orange alert in three districts and yellow, green alert for rest of the districts. 

Flood water is also believed to have begun receding in many areas in Kerala, however, rescue operations, relief work and rehabilitation is in full swing. The Central government on Monday declared the destructive deluge a 'calamity of severe nature'. 

Nearly 400 people have died with over 7 lakh people displaced and homeless, taking shelter in more than 5,000 relief camps across the state.

The massive floods are estimated to have caused a cumulative loss worth over 20,000 crore to the state. 

(With inputs from PTI)