Commercial flight operations from the Kannur international airport, the State’s fourth international one, will commence in September 2018, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Presiding over the 8th annual general body meeting of Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL), the special purpose vehicle floated by the government to execute the work, Mr. Vijayan, who is also the chairman of KIAL, said here on Tuesday that the work on the integrated passenger terminal building would be completed in January 2018.
L&T (B& F), the EPC-I contractor, had completed 90% of the work on the terminal building and on the city side. The remaining work on the runway and safety area would commence after the rain, the Chief Minister told the meeting.
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Time schedule
The X-ray machines and elevators would be installed by December this year, baggage handling system by March 2018, passenger boarding bridge by February 2018, and escalators by January 2018. The navigation system would be commissioned in April 2018 and the Instrument Landing System in August 2018.
Pointing out that talks were on with various domestic and international carriers, the Chief Minister said Jet Airways had secured permission from the Civil Aviation Ministry for operating daily flights to Abu Dhabi and GoAir to Dammam.
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Land acquisition for increasing the runway from 3,050 m to 4,000 m had been approved by the director board and notified by the government. He said ₹500 crore needs to be mobilised for increasing the runway length to 3,400 m initially.
Ground handling in the airport had been awarded to Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AI-ATSL) and Celebi Ground Handling Delhi Pvt Ltd.
Jobs for local people
The Chief Minister said 41 of the 180 posts in various categories in the airport would be earmarked for those from the families who lost their houses while acquiring land for the greenfield airport. Bids have been floated for infrastructure work, including roads, outside the airport at Mattannur. Ministers E. Chandrasekharan, Kadannappally Ramachandran, and K.K. Shylaja; KIAL MD P. Bala Kiran; Project Engineer K.S. Shibu Kumar; Company Secretary Gyananendra Kumar; Chief Financial Officer S. Jayakrishnan; and director board members were present.