Gulf News

Kannur internatio­nal airport to open soon

Fourth internatio­nal airport in Kerala will open on December 9

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Kerala’s fourth internatio­nal airport, in Kannur, is slated to open on December 9 following an approval by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), an official said here on Friday.

Kannur Internatio­nal Airport Ltd (Kial) managing director V. Thulasidas confirmed the launch date, saying “we are ready for operations”.

Kial authoritie­s are trying their best for commercial operations to commence soon after the inaugurati­on, but the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will decide on that.

Already, 11 internatio­nal carriers and six domestic operators have confirmed their flights out of Kial.

The airport, built at a cost of Dh949 million, is located at Mattanur near Kannur and is spread over 2,000 acres.

With this, Kerala will be the only state in India to have four internatio­nal airports, with the other three located in Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvanan­thapuram.

The swanky Kannur airport has 24 check-in and 32 immigratio­n counters. The runway will begin at a length of 3,050 metres, increasing to 3,400 metres in 18 months and eventually to 4,000 metres. The airport will be able to handle 2,000 passengers at a time, and Kial is estimated to serve more than 1.5 million annually.

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