State-of-the-art terminal at CIAL soon

New facility to handle around 10 million international passengers a year

A birds eye view of CIAL near Kochi.

The state-of-the-art new international terminal at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) in Nedumbassery here will soon become a reality.

The unveiling of the new terminal’s design, which is based on Kerala temple architecture, was done by Excise Minister K. Babu on Saturday.

The facility, with a built up area of more than 15 lakh sq ft, will be able to handle around 10 million international passengers per annum and will cater to the traffic demand up to 2025, according to the airport authorities.

V.J. Kurian, Managing Director of CIAL, said the approximate cost of the new terminal would be Rs. 450 crore. “CIAL is fully confident of raising necessary finances on its own to fund the project. The project has already been submitted to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority and its clearance is expected soon,” he said.

Mr. Kurian said that the public could submit their comments and suggestions on the design of the new terminal. “We will give due consideration to those views while finalising the engineering design.”

Details of the proposed design of the international terminal have been uploaded on the website of CIAL (www.cial.aero), where the public can access the design and also offer their comments. Unlike the existing terminals, the new international terminal will have two levels. The ground level will cater to arriving passengers and the upper level will handle all international departures. The terminal will have 15 parking bays with full aerobridge connectivity. An elevated approach road is also planned to connect the departure area with the main approach road. The terminal has been designed to meet the peak hour capacity of 4,000 passengers.

There will be 56 check-in counters with provision for adding 28 more counters based on the traffic requirements. The departure area will have duty free shopping space of more than 10,000 sq ft, four premium lounges for first and business class passengers and food courts.

Fifty immigration counters are being planned to ensure smooth immigration clearance of arriving passengers. The arrival area will have a sprawling duty free shopping area of around 20,000 sq ft.