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Kannur International Airport, the second airport developed via PPP model in Kerala, will be inaugurated jointly by Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, and Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala Chief Minister, on December 9. They will also flag off the first flight, operated by Air India Express.
V Thulasidas, Managing Director, Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL), told reporters that more airlines are expected to start services to and from Kannur in January. GoAir, IndiGo, and SpiceJet are awaiting final clearance from the Director-General of Civil Aviation. If clearance is received, GoAir is likely to operate its first service on December 9 itself. IndiGo will start services by the middle of January.
Proposals
Some foreign airlines have already submitted proposals to the DGCA for starting services to Kannur. “KIAL and the State government are taking the best efforts to get permission for foreign airlines. We expect 10-13 flights soon from Kannur,” he added.
GoAir will operate flights to Abu Dhabi, Dammam and Muscat initially and soon add Doha and Kuwait.
GoAir will also operate on domestic routes such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Air India Express will add Muscat to its route as per the availability of the aircraft, which is undergoing repair.
IndiGo will fly to Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Hubli and Thiruvananthapuram. The airlines will issue their schedules on getting DGCA clearance.
Viability
Referring to the viability of the airport, Thulasidas said the airport company does not expect profit in the initial years. “There are 6,700 shareholders, including petroleum companies, banks and individuals. The estimated yearly expenditure is ₹200-250 crore. We cannot expect the company to make profits in the initial years.
“Therefore, the airport company will tap maximum income from non- aviation sources,” said Thulasidas, adding that services under UDAN project, which are not profitable for the airport, will be operated from Kannur with certain changes in the conditions.
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