Wednesday, December 16, 2015

First Test Flight at Kannur Airport on January 2016: K Babu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  The first test flight at the Kannur International Airport would be held in January 2016, Ports Minister K Babu said on Tuesday. The commercial operations would begin at the airport in September 2016, instead of May as had been announced earlier.

The government had planned the test for December 31 this year, but incessant rain and local protest over blasting had delayed work by five months, Babu said in reply to a submission by Sunny Joseph MLA in the Assembly.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had requested the Centre for permission to conduct the test flight during a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Ganapathy Raju on December 11, Babu said. Sixty-five per cent of work on the runway and 55 per cent of work on the terminal building had been completed.

The runway would be 3,050 m long, but work had been set in motion to increase it to 3,400 m. But there was no plan to increase the length to 4,000 m, the minister said. ''Only three airports in the country - Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi - have 4,000-m runways,’’ Babu said.
16/12/15 The New Indian Express
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