The Kannur International Airport Limited or KIAL started operations on the 9th of December this month, making Kerala the only state in the country with four international airports. The first flight out was an Air India Express with 180 passengers onboard, bound for Abu Dhabi.
Features of this airport include:
1) Total area:
2000 acres costing around Rs. 1800 crore
2) Passenger capacity:
Can handle around 2000 passengers at a time.
Will serve more than 1.5 million international passengers yearly.
3) Runway length of the airport:
3,050 metres, will be extended to 4000 metres in the future.
Other than this, the airport also has 24 check-in counters, self-baggage drop counters, self-checking machines and 32 immigration counters. It also has arrangements to facilitate landing of big aircrafts such as the Boeing-777.
The airport will cater primarily to the people of Kannur and Kasaragod districts of Kerala and Kodagu region in Karnataka.
Picture credits: https://twitter.com/sureshpprabhu
