Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s second greenfield airport, its fourth with the ‘international’ tag, is all set for takeoff. The Kannur International Airport, in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s home turf, is gearing up for commercial flight operations with several innovations and could well be the envy of airports elsewhere in the country. It is envisaged to be carbon neutral, maximum clean/renewable energy-dependent and functioning completely on the basis of the green energy concept.
The airport, located 20 km from Kannur city and very close to the Kannur-Mattannur-Mysuru highway, is being built as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. The ₹2,292-crore airport, which has an integrated terminal building that conforms to the certifying standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI), would have state-of-the-art facilities to support safe, efficient and cost-effective travel for foreign tourists, Non-Resident Keralites, and domestic travellers to north Kerala and southern parts of Karnataka.
The airport will be the biggest in Kerala in terms of land area and the 4,000-m runway on completion in Phase III will be the longest in south India, able to accommodate large wide-bodied aircraft. Kannur will join the elite group of airports in the country with 4,000-metre runways after the busy ones in New Delhi (4,430 m), Hyderabad (4,260 m) and Bengaluru (4,120 m). The ‘swing’ facility, which will enable the use of the terminal for domestic operations when there is no international flight operations, as in the T3 terminal in Mumbai, will make the airport terminal unique.
The terminal building, that will have a double skin aluminium roofing, granite, vitrified, wooden and synthetic marble floor, art works, and a host of modern amenities, will be able to handle 2,000 domestic and international flyers in the peak hour. Green building concept has been adopted in the building that will have energy-efficient LED lighting. A city side 750-m flyover, 16 escalators, four conveyor belts, 17 elevators, 24 check-in counters, 32 emigration counters, including four for e-visa at arrival level, 16 customs counters, and access control are the other features. The State has 35% equity share, public sector companies 25%, AAI 10%, and the private sector 30% equity in the project.
The airport is gearing up for commissioning in August or September, possibly as an Onam gift to the people of Kerala. The KIAL director board, chaired by the Chief Minister, at a meeting expected to be held later this month, will take a call on the date of the airport’s commissioning. The DGCA has carried out the pre-licence inspection as 95% of the works have been completed. The pre-licence inspection of the lighting, including the central line, of the runway, taxi track and apron, operational facilities, the 21,000-sq-ft Air Traffic Control (ATC), civil and electrical facilities was carried out by the DGCA’s Deputy Director (South) Dorairaj and Deputy Director (Western Region) Survita Saxena last week. “This is to save time and take steps to rectify anomalies, if any, in the facilities installed. We are expecting the report from the DGCA this month,” Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL) managing director V. Thulasidas told The Hindu. “We have completed 95% of the works. The interior art works are going on,” the KIAL MD said.
02/06/18 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu
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The airport, located 20 km from Kannur city and very close to the Kannur-Mattannur-Mysuru highway, is being built as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. The ₹2,292-crore airport, which has an integrated terminal building that conforms to the certifying standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI), would have state-of-the-art facilities to support safe, efficient and cost-effective travel for foreign tourists, Non-Resident Keralites, and domestic travellers to north Kerala and southern parts of Karnataka.
The airport will be the biggest in Kerala in terms of land area and the 4,000-m runway on completion in Phase III will be the longest in south India, able to accommodate large wide-bodied aircraft. Kannur will join the elite group of airports in the country with 4,000-metre runways after the busy ones in New Delhi (4,430 m), Hyderabad (4,260 m) and Bengaluru (4,120 m). The ‘swing’ facility, which will enable the use of the terminal for domestic operations when there is no international flight operations, as in the T3 terminal in Mumbai, will make the airport terminal unique.
The terminal building, that will have a double skin aluminium roofing, granite, vitrified, wooden and synthetic marble floor, art works, and a host of modern amenities, will be able to handle 2,000 domestic and international flyers in the peak hour. Green building concept has been adopted in the building that will have energy-efficient LED lighting. A city side 750-m flyover, 16 escalators, four conveyor belts, 17 elevators, 24 check-in counters, 32 emigration counters, including four for e-visa at arrival level, 16 customs counters, and access control are the other features. The State has 35% equity share, public sector companies 25%, AAI 10%, and the private sector 30% equity in the project.
The airport is gearing up for commissioning in August or September, possibly as an Onam gift to the people of Kerala. The KIAL director board, chaired by the Chief Minister, at a meeting expected to be held later this month, will take a call on the date of the airport’s commissioning. The DGCA has carried out the pre-licence inspection as 95% of the works have been completed. The pre-licence inspection of the lighting, including the central line, of the runway, taxi track and apron, operational facilities, the 21,000-sq-ft Air Traffic Control (ATC), civil and electrical facilities was carried out by the DGCA’s Deputy Director (South) Dorairaj and Deputy Director (Western Region) Survita Saxena last week. “This is to save time and take steps to rectify anomalies, if any, in the facilities installed. We are expecting the report from the DGCA this month,” Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL) managing director V. Thulasidas told The Hindu. “We have completed 95% of the works. The interior art works are going on,” the KIAL MD said.
02/06/18 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu
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