NEDUMBASSERY: The Cochin International Airport Ltd. (CIAL) has registered a turnover of Rs.110 crores in the financial year 2005-'06, said V.J. Kurian, managing director of CIAL, here on Wednesday.

Mr. Kurian said the net profit (profit after tax) was Rs.31.38 crores, up from Rs.28.79 crores in the previous fiscal. He said this was achieved in spite of not charging user's fee during the last three months of the 2005-'06. The CIAL had ceased to charge user's fee, at the rate of Rs.500 from each outgoing international passenger since January this year.

He said in terms of international passenger movement, the Cochin International Airport was ranked fourth in the country, after Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. In 2005-'06, 19 lakh passengers had availed themselves of the services of the airport; 7, 40,000 domestic passengers and 11,60,000 international passengers, an increase of 18.18 per cent over the figure of 16 lakh in the previous year.

Mr. Kurian said the company for the proposed airline in the joint sector, Air Kerala, had already been registered. The company had been registered with authorised capital of Rs.200 crores, with the CIAL and the State Government jointly having a stake of 26 per cent. He said further steps on the project would be taken up after the new State Government assumed office.

He said the CIAL was planning to broadbase its activities to other areas. Projects such as maintenance hangar and ground handling unit were conceived by the CIAL as part of diversifying its sphere of activities to face the competition in the civil aviation sector in the coming years. He took pride in the fact that Kochi airport was the fist in the country to have readied the apron capable of accommodating the "giant bird" A 380.

He said the airport would take up ground-handling activities for which a ground-handling unit would be set up. The unit would extend its services to other airports, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Coimbatore, etc., before eventually participating in the ground-handling work at its base in Kochi airport in 2009 when the contract with Air-India comes to an end. He said the airport company envisaged undertaking ground handling activities in at least 20 airports by 2025.

Mr. Kurian said land development projects had been drawn up by the airport company, which, when implemented, would create at least 34,000 job opportunities in the next 10 years. Star hotels, multiplexes, shopping malls, food courts and logistic centres are some of the projects considered under the land development plans.

He said the Kochi airport hoped to become the first airport in the world without landing charges by 2012. He said the airport would be able to cover the loss in revenue by foregoing landing charges through its land development plans.

He said the CIAL had received an invitation from Sri Lanka to assist the country in setting up its a new airport, which it plans to develop about 80 miles south of Colombo. He said besides providing consultancy service, the CIAL was also interested in investing in the project. A decision on this would be taken subject to the approval of the new Government and the Board of the Directors, Mr. Kurian said.

He said the CIAL was also interested in venturing into the tourism sector. It proposed to promote pilgrimage tourism connecting important temples and other religious centres in the State.

As part of this, there are plans to tie up with hotels to undertake tourism promotional activities, he said.

Mr. Kurian expressed satisfaction at having implemented an effective rehabilitation package for those who had lost their homes during land acquisition for the airport. He said of the 832 homeless, 650 had been rehabilitated by providing various jobs connected with the airport. He said when the land development projects are implemented, the remaining would also be rehabilitated. Besides this, 95 per cent of the grass root level works have been allocated to the homeless.

Mr. Kurian, who is set take charge as Chairman of the Spices Board shortly, thanked the media for the support extended to him and the Kochi airport. Mr. Kurian served for three-and-a-half years in his second innings as the managing director of the airport since February 2003. He had served in this post for a brief period in 1999, the year when the airport became operational.

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