Air India comes to the aid of flood-hit Kochi

Most of the Air India and Air India Express flights have been rescheduled to operate from Thiruvananthapuram.

Air India, true to its reputation, spread its wings to stand with the people stranded in the devastating flood wreaking havoc in Kerala.
From the moment, operations were suspended at the Cochin airport, Air India along with its subsidiary Air India Express swung into action and took the lead in announcing the steps to be taken to help the affected passengers through waiver of applicable penalties on re-issuance, date change, no-show, cancellation and refund charges.
This is applicable for travel to and from Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram for both Domestic and International flights, on confirmed tickets issued on or before August 14, 2018.
Regular updates of other relief measures, were uploaded round the clock through the official social media platform and the Air India and Air India Express call centres.
Most of the Air India and Air India Express flights operating from Kochi Airport to destinations in the Gulf, like Dubai and other stations like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc, have been rescheduled to operate from Thiruvananthapuram.
As an exemplary initiative to fly out stranded people, AI's subsidiary Alliance Air operated a non-commercial "proving flight" on an ATR (turboprop) to Kochi's naval base with a team of DGCA, AAI and Flight Safety officials. Flight 9I 105 landed at Kochi at 12:40pm from Bangalore and the return flight 9I 106 took off from Kochi at 13:45pm.
This whole exercise is aimed at confirming the feasibility of having Alliance Air operate more flights to Cochin's defence airbase with turboprops to evacuate passengers. 
Whether it was the tsunami in Port Blair, earthquake in Kathmandu or the floods in Kerala and Chennai, landslides in the hills or during any natural calamity or strife, Air India has invariably acted as the nation's second line of defence going beyond any call of duty or commercial interest.

• India