Kannur airport to be opened in September

KANNUR: The Kannur airport would be commissioned in September this year and the civil work would be completed by April-May, said Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) managing director V Thulasidas.
Addressing an interactive session on the subject, ‘Kannur – City of future: Airport allied development and opportunities’, organised by the North Malabar Chamber of Commerce (NMCC) here on Thursday, he said once the airport becomes functional, Lakshadweep also should be included in its catchment area.This would benefit the residents of the islands and the tourists.
“However, the tourists to Lakshadweep often use ship to travel one way and hence along with the air facility, the sea port in Azhikkal here should also be developed and shipping services started,” he said pointing towards the need of developing multi-modal transport facilities in the region to usher in integrated development.
But the development of the airport would be complete only when the road infrastructure and the allied facilities are also developed, said Thulasidas. While the road development would be taken up soon by the government, the KIAL is willing to develop other commercial facilities to promote trade and export in the airport land, he added.
“In a recent meeting chaired by the chief minister, the PWD superintending engineer of north zone has been entrusted the responsibility to take up the development of the roads to the airport from different parts of the northern region and complete it in a time bound manner,” he said.
Once the airport becomes a reality, there is also need to develop rail link as also a metro service connecting the airport, he opined.