Daijiworld Media Network – Kannur (DC)
Kannur, Dec 9: The first flight from Kannur International Airport was flagged off by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu here on Sunday December 9.
The first flight to Abu Dhabi was flagged off at 9.55 am. Meanwhile, Ramachandran Kadannappally, minister for ports and museum, inaugurated the VIP lounge in the departure area and transport minister AK Saseendran inaugurated the ATM. It was an Air India Express flight with 180 passengers to Abu Dhabi. All passengers received a gift each from te airport.
Health minister KK Shailaja inaugurated the foreign exchange counter while minister for industries EP Jayarajan unveiled the installation of Malabar Handloom at International Security Hold. Later, revenue minister E Chandrasekharan inaugurated Food and Beverages Services.
Welcoming the first passengers, Minister K K Shailaja said that with the inauguration of the Kannur airport, the people of the area was in festive mood.
The much awaited grand inaugural ceremony of the airport commenced at 6 am at the presence of ministers, political leaders and several other prominent personalities. Apart from cultural events on the occasion, the passengers of the first flight were greeted on the premises of Vayanthode Mattannur Cooperative Bank.
The boarding pass was issued at the check-in counter at 7.15 am to the passengers.
The airport is expected to serve more than one million passengers annually and authorities estimate the number will increase five-fold by 2025.
Built at a cost of Rs 2,292 crore and spread over 2,300 acres, the airport has a runway suitable for Code E aircraft, like the Boeing B-777 and Airbus A-330. It will be extended later for the operation of Code F aircraft, like Airbus A-380. The integrated 95,000 sq meters terminal building, the eighth largest in India, has been built with state-of-the-art facilities.
The airport will benefit residents of the state working in Middle East and tourist destination Kodagu and Mysuru in Karnataka, as well as Kerala’s hilly districts like Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasargod will also benefit.
This is the fourth international airport in the state, the rest are in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
Two more flights were listed for the day.
Flights that would operate from here includes those to the UAE, Oman, Qatar, besides domestic ones to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai among others.