As the Kannur international airport is nearing the take-off stage with 95% of the work already completed, the soft launch of the greenfield airport near Mattannur is planned in January 2018.
Announcing this at a press conference at the project site here on Saturday, Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL) Managing Director P. Bala Kiran said the company had proposed to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) January for the trial flight for the calibration of the radar required for the AAI’s navigation information promulgation. The promulgation would be a milestone.
He said the commercial operation of the new airport is planned in September next year as KIAL has to secure two more important clearances: the Director General of Civil Aviation’s aerodrome licence and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security’s security clearance.
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To be the fourth largest Indian airport
By January, substantial completion of the works would be achieved, Mr. Kiran said adding that the new airport would be the fourth largest airport in the country as far as the length of the runway is concerned. The airport has a runway length of 3,050 metres suitable for operation of Code E aircraft and it would be extended further at a later stage suitable for Code F aircraft operation.
He said the interior decoration work is under way at the 95,000 sq m passenger terminal building, which is the eighth largest in the country. It will have 48 check-in counters, 16 each emigration, immigration and customs counters, three conveyer belts, 12 escalators, and 15 elevators. The 1,923 sq m ATC building and 750-metre flyover had been completed, he said.
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The KIAL MD said the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) had allotted 634 personnel for the security of the airport. The State police had offered 145 personnel for managing the immigration wing of the airport. As many as 78 Customs personnel would be posted, he said.
He said that from next month, KIAL would allot areas to airlines. By December, full manpower for the airport would be recruited, he said adding already 30 people from families evicted for acquisition of land for the airport had been appointed.
The airport is expected to have an annual traffic of more than 1.5 million international passengers and over 0.15 million domestic passengers by 2018. Of the total 2,061 acre land planned for the airport project, 1,277.93 acres had been acquired. The land under acquisition was 259.5 acres, he added.