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Kerala’s fourth airport to be opened in Kannur on December 9
11 international and six domestic carriers have shown interest in operating from the greenfield airport, which will have the fifth-longest runway in the country with a length of 4,000 metres, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
Kannur in north Kerala, notorious for violent clashes between the CPI(M) and RSS, is set to leave its bitter past behind and enter the international air map on December 9 when the state’s fourth airport will be inaugurated.
“Now, the only formality left is the publication of details, regulations and other information pertinent to operation of aircraft as mandated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation,” a spokesperson of the Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) said.
The director general of civil aviation granted the aerodrome licence to KIAL on Thursday after a month-long flight calibration and landing tests.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the chairman of KIAL, said on Friday 11 international and six domestic carriers have shown interest in operating from the greenfield airport, which will have the fifth-longest runway in the country with a length of 4,000 metres.
Reports said either President Ram Nath Kovind or Prime Minister Narendra Modi may inaugurate the airport but the CM’s office said the name of the chief guest is yet to be finalised.
For the coastal state that stretches 580km from one end to the other, Kerala has the unique distinction of having three international airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Kozhikode and the fourth will be added with the commissioning of KIAL.
Built under the private-public partnership (PPP) model, 67.14% shares in KIAL are owned by individuals, mostly non-resident Indians, and corporate entities while the state government holds a 32.86% stake in return for land and other development activities undertaken in the area.
Located 22km away from Kannur city, the facility is being considered as a token for development in Malabar that isn’t as developed as the Travancore and Kochi regions of the state. The new airport is also expected to give a big push to tourism in north Kerala and adjoining Kodagu district of southern Karnataka, which is a two-hour drive.
Built in an area of 2,300 acres it has all the modern facilities and the space to park 20 aircraft with a facility to handle the landing of big aircraft like Boeing 777, the KIAL spokesperson said.
The foundation for the airport was laid in 2010 and was expected to be commissioned by 2016 but delayed due to various reasons.
The state’s airports largely cater to its citizens shuttling between oil-rich nations in the middle-east and their hometowns. As many as 26 lakh Keralites work abroad, the bulk of them in the middle-east and remittances from the strong NRI community form about 40% of the state’s GDP.
