Tag Archives: Cochin International Airport Limited

Kochi airport is set to resume flight operations at 14hrs on August 29, according to a recent update by Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL). In a meeting held at CIAL to review the damage control activities at Kochi airport, most of the stakeholders including airlines and ground handling agencies expressed their concerns over mobilising man power. About 90 per cent of their staffers got affected with the flood and are out of station. Nearby hotels, restaurants and eateries still remain closed. As central Kerala is yet to recover from post-flood trauma, it is a daunting task to arrange local commutation and logis­tics of catering items which will cause a cascading effect on the passengers. In view of these apprehensions, CIAL extended the date of resuming operations.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan opened Cochin International Airport Limited’s new integrated international passenger terminal for commercial operation. The Chief Minister lauded the CIAL, the country’s first airport built under PPP model, which has scripted a new chapter in aviation history by becoming the first in the world that completely operates on solar power. The Chief Minister received passengers and crew who arrived at the new airport Terminal 3 via a Jet Airways flight from Muscat to Kochi in the evening. The first flight which arrived at the new terminal was received by ‘water salute’ as per tradition. The foundation stone for the project was laid in Februrary 2014 by then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in view of growth in passenger traffic through CIAL.  The terminal, having a built up area of 15 lakh sq ft, was inaugurated in February last year. It is having a peak hour capacity of 4000 passengers, according to a CIAL release. Vijayan also inaugurated the the 4.3 km long four-lane road connecting the airport and National Highway at Athani near Aluva and also the expansion of the CIAL’s solar power capacity from 15.5 MW to 21.5 MW. (Source: PTI)