New Delhi:
Kannur International Airport, the second greenfield airport after Sikkim’s Pakyong Airport, constructed near Mattannur in Kerala’s Kannur district will soon be operational. Constructed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model in an area of 2,300 acres, the Kannur International Airport will be inaugurated on December 9.
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The Director General of Civil Aviation has accorded commercial flight operation license to the airport, which has all modern passenger amenities, a release from the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Friday.
The airport would have 24 check-in counters, self-baggage drop counters, self-checking machines and 32 immigration counters.
The length of the Kunnur airport runway is 3,050 metres and work to extend the length of the runway to 4,000 metres had begun, the release stated. Also, work on seven aerobridges has been completed and the airport has arrangements to facilitate landing of big aircraft like Boeing-777. It has space to park 20 aircraft at a time.
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The Kannur airport will be the fourth international airport in the state, the others being in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
Kannur airport is the second to be built under PPP route after Nedumbassery International Airport at Kochi. It is only 20 km away from Kannur city, and 2 km from Mattannur on Kannur Mattannur Mysuru road.
Construction of the airport, considered a flagship programme of the previous Congress-led UDF government, was inaugurated by then Defence Minister and senior Congress leader A K Antony on February 2, 2014.
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The airport was set up with the aim to transform North Malabar region into a highly developed growth centre for travel, tourism and industries.
