Kochi airport to partly close for seven months

New Delhi: Almost 200 out of 400 weekly domestic and international flights in and out of Kochi will be severely affected with the airport authorities deciding to close the runway from 10 am to 8 pm every day for seven months starting November this year.
The private airport developer has said the entire runway needs to be recarpeted. The 3,400-metre runway will be developed in small blocks so that aircraft can take off and land outside the no-fly period. No aircraft uses the entire runway to take off and land.
Officials of Cochin International Airport Ltd have already informed over 14 carriers that operate from the airport — a key centre for migrant workers travelling to West Asia — of the impending closure.
Kochi accounts for nearly half the total aircraft movement in and out of Kerala. The other airports include Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode (Calicut).
Carriers have started planning to reschedule flights to skirt the “no-fly” time or divert aircraft to other airports.
18/01/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Jan 2008