Kochi Transportation

COCHIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The new airport is at Angamaly, closer to the town of Alwaye than Cochin. It is in the middle of nowhere, done so to reduce the impact on the environment. The old, chaotic and somewhat romantic aerodrome left over from the British Colonial Days was in the Willingdon Island , which was totally inadequate when Cochin became a city of exporting humans to the Middle East. The new aiport can handle all the flights coming and going out. It is a testament to the Kerala Labourers to th Middle East that every single major arab airlines from the gulf region: etihad, emirates, Saudi, Kuwait, and Arabia all fly in and out of Cochin Airport
Air India has direct flights to Riyadh, Jeddah, Koweit and intriguingly enough to Salalah in Oman. Connecting through Calicut and Mangalore, Air India flies to
Muscat, Sharjah, dubai, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Bahrain, Dammam.
The traffic to the middle east is mainly Labour Traffic and not intended for tourism. Cochin is well connected by air to Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore and Madras, and through these ports to the wider world.
Silk Air flies daily to Singapore. Tiger Airways from Singapore used to fly here but they have stopped flying here. Sri Lankan flies to Colombo and beyond.
I really look forward to the day when Cochin will direct flights from Europe without stopping off in the Middle East.
My usual routing is:
Either Air France from Paris to Bombay and then down to Cochin
Continental from New York to Bombay and then down to Cochin
From KL and Singapore it is easier to reach Madras and it is a pleasure to fly Paramount airways down to Cochin.

Arrival hall at the new Cochin International Airport
Even though the interior is welcoming, the walls are becoming overcrowded for various services, jewelry, investment funds and telephone cards, three most popular items. The luggage carousel has already the look of 1950s even though the airport is less than ten years old. The luggage arrived promptly, eventhough the flight from Dubai at the same time, had more luggage and there was a great crowd around that carousel. Once the luggage arrived, once again another queue to go through customs since they use the same terminal for domestic and international flights. Then again, you can just pass through saying you are coming on the domestic flight, no one was particularly watchful. There are plenty of trolleys for carrying your luggage. There is a bank counter to change money and once you are through the customs there is also a Pre Paid Taxi service. There is one more xray for your luggage but I just went past the xray machine without putting my luggage through and I saw many people doing that. Indians seems to be more interested in the process than the substance. Airport security is minimal.

our flight was delayed and arrived close to 4 am at the Cochin International Airport. the prepaid taxi system is a good service. it is about 475 inr to ernakulam and 620 inr to fort cochin. Hotels like ballards Bungalows on booking withthem would arrange for a pick up for a reasonable rate. I dont know if you are coming at 4 am whether it is advisable to go to alleppey at that time. pehaps take a taxi to ernakulam and then stay the night and catch a bus or train the next day or even another taxi. but if you are coming during the day you can go directly to alleppey from the airport using the prepaid taxi service.

Checking into Jet Airways counter at Cochin
Since jet airways have a mutual agreement with both air france and continental airlines
I went and stood in the Premiere class line which was empty
The gentleman behind looked like a novice at this game and a tall young man was helping him
The three bags in total weighed 53 kg, 13 kg overweight
And I saw him calculate the excess weight of 2530 inr. But I started talking to him
And showed him our air france gold and continental platinum
He checked us in, didn’t charge the excess and was polite and without asking, gave us apass to the lounge
Which was kind indeed.
I asked him for his name
Jinson
Or jinsen
Reminded me of the Danish designed Jensen, I told him
Is the flight delayed, just twenty minutes and I will come and get you.
Jinson had come in tp the lungefor some other errand, I called him over and told him, as I handed him a one peso note from Cuba. He had earlier asked, in that tilting manner of the malayalee, are you basically from Kerala?
Where are you from? I asked the question, I am basically from Cochin he answered.

I handed him a peso note and pointing out to Jose Marti who adorns the Cuban peso note, I said
He is like Gandhi to you, a great intellectual and a great man. You must learn something about him. Also this would bring good luck to you, keep it in a safe place. He couldn’t believe it, but accepted it gracefully.
I had another cappuccino and another glass of cucumber cooler which was true to its name.
I saw Jinson coming over again, I looked at the watch , the flight was supposed to arrive at 12 45 pm and it had not arrived . he came over and asked for our boarding passes and said
Both of you have been upgraded. I was happy about that ready to enjoy the benefits of a first class ride on an Indian airlines.
I thanked him mentally, and here it is an excellent example of transaction of symbols.
A little later, another jet airways employee, a lady this time, came over to say that we could go over to the security.

The jet airways lounge at Cochin International Airport
Set up as a café with a small buffet and uniformed waiters for serving coffee and tea
This is where an observation came to my mind
All the Indian passengers are fatter than me and all the coolie workers are thinner than me
The well off are fat and not so well off are thin, nothing profound but then again, india is a poor country, with an uneven development
In richer countries the rich tend to be thin and the poor fat, in India the poor was thin and the rich or richer are fat.
Cucumber cooler
A little vegetable salad
And a cappuccino with and another without the cinnamon, but I could taste the machine and the powder.

nice place to wait for your flight

Most of the flights ( from Paris or New York) arrive closer to midnight, thus you are left with a choice of spending the rest of the night at the airport (not user friendly) for an early morning flight or find a place to stay.
Air India offers domestic flights which are connections to its international flights and there is a flight from Bombay to Cochin leaving at 0100 in the morning, at least you could sleep in the hotel in Cochin and sleep in if you like.
If you book ahead the airfares on Air India are very reasonable, competetive to Kingfisher and jet and Indian. and they all leave first thing in the morning for Cochin.
The greatest attraction for me is the fact that you dont have to switch terminals in the middle of the night. Air India flies into and out of International Terminal, so if you arrive on Air France, you can clear the immigration and customs and recheck for Air India.

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I flew to Kochi via Dubai with Emirates Airlines. I fly often with Emirates and never han a bad experience.
Arriving in Kochi is better, compared to Mumbai and Delhi.
Emirates have 3 flights per day from Johannesburg to Dubai, and recently introduced flights from Cape Town to Dubai!

The many public ferries link the islands and mainland of Ernakulam. The KTDC offers daily boat cruises that visit the main sights.

The ferries provide a quick and easy way to get about Cochin, with views of life around the bustling harbour. Small fishing boats bob alongside huge tankers.

Although it was overcast on the day we spent in Cochin, and I was feeling ill, we were cheered by the sight of a dolphin that briefly appeared at the side of our boat....some days you can be escorted by a family of these creatures as you sail along!