Coastal surveillance and security in the State will get a boost as a long-pending demand of the Indian Coast Guard to have space at Mangaluru International Airport for positioning its air squadron was fulfilled on Wednesday.
The Airports Authority of India handed over about 17,000 sq ft of space in its old terminal building at Bajpe to the Coast Guard on Wednesday, according to J.T. Radhakrishna, director of the airport.
The Coast Guard had asked for space for its operations and parking its aircraft. He told The Hindu that the Coast Guard has proposed to park its two Dornier aircraft at the old terminal building which is not being used now for passenger aircraft operations.
The nearest airbase for the Coast Guard here is in Kochi and Panaji (Goa), he said.
Mr. Radhakrishna said the aircraft/ helicopter of the Coast Guard would use the air traffic services being provided by the AAI at airport for operations.
Passenger traffic
Referring to passenger traffic at the airport Mr. Radhakrishna said the airport is expected to handle more than 16 lakh passengers in the current financial year.
He said in the first nine months (April-December) of the current financial year, the airport handled 12.42 lakh passengers, including 7.39 lakh domestic and 5.02 lakh international passengers. It was up by 22 per cent when compared to the corresponding period of 2014-15.
The international passenger traffic went up by 40 per cent and domestic traffic by 15 per cent.
He said Mangaluru International Airport is the 12th largest airport handling international passengers in the country after Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli.
Mr. Radhakrishna said the airport handled 1.62 lakh passengers in the last month alone as it was season of tourists, and festivals.
