11 foreign, six domestic airlines from KIAL

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Eleven foreign airline companies and six domestic companies have evinced interest in operating flight services from the upcoming Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL), said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.


Chairing the annual general meeting of KIAL, the chief minister said that the foreign companies include Emirates, Etihad, Fly Dubai,

Air Arabia

, Oman Air,

Qatar Airways

, Gulf Air, Saudia, Silk Air, Air Asia and Malindo Air. The domestic airline companies include Air India,

Air India Express

, Jet Airways, Indigo Airlines, Go Air and Spice Jet.

The chief minister said that there has been significant growth in the construction of the airport over the past two years.

He said that the runway and air-side work worth Rs 694 crore and terminal, city-side work and other works inside the terminal building, including metal detectors, baggage-handling system, emigration check points, lifts, escalators and passenger boarding worth Rs 498 crore have been completed.

For ground handling jobs, the contract has been given to Air India's air transport services and Delhi-based Celebi ground handling services.

As part of KIAL, an air cargo complex, an airport office building, a five-floor building for residence of CISF personnel, a 23-km road along the compound wall, landscaping of the airport area, etc that are worth Rs 113 crore of work, has been entrusted to Montecarlo Ltd to be completed in one-and-a-half years.

The runway length was decided to be increased from 3,050 metres to 4,000 metres and the land acquisition for the additional length of the runway is going on, he said.

The chief minister added that once the runway length is increased to 4,000 metres, KIAL will be the biggest in the state.

He said that the airport needs 180 employees for operations and of this, 136 have been appointed. The appointment of the remaining employees is progressing, he said.

The chief minister said that the government expects to commence the commercial operations from the airport this year itself.