Cochin: Indian airline startup Air Kerala has taken another step to become a reality for its UAE-based investors. The carrier announced Friday it has received its International Air Transport Association (IATA) airline code. “The code we’ve been allocated is KD,” said Harish Kutty, CEO of the ultra-low-cost carrier. “The code ‘KD’ will be firmed up once we secure the air operator certificate (AOC),” Kutty added.

IATA airline designators, sometimes called IATA reservation codes, are two-character codes assigned by IATA to the world's airlines. For example, Air India’s IATA code is AI and IndiGo’s is 6E. Airlines are usually allotted either two letters or a letter and a numerical code. “Getting a two-alphabet code is a privilege. We are very honoured with the allocation,” said Kutty.

For Dubai-based Air Kerala founder and Chairman Afi Ahmed, the ‘KD’ stands for ‘Kerala Dream’. “For non-Keralites, the KD has a multitude of meanings. It could stand for ‘Kerala to Dubai’ or ‘Kerala to Doha’. For us, this is another step towards making the Air Kerala dream come true,” said Ahmed.

Air Kerala expects to receive its AOC by the end of June. According to Ahmed, the airline has been receiving great interest and enquiries from prospective UAE and GCC non-resident Keralites (NRKs).

The idea of Air Kerala was originally conceived by the Kerala government in 2006 in partnership with CIAL cochin international airport.