‘NRI presence, a strong point for setting up Kannur airport’

The demand for an international airport in this place is very strong because of the large presence of non-resident Indians (NRIs). In fact, this north Malabar region actually has the second largest concentration of Gulf Malayalis. (after Malappuram). NRI demand was the strong point for establishing an airport here, and the first flight itself will be an international one. (Air India Express will operate Kannur-Abu Dhabi flight on December 9.)

Our catchment area, which will feed traffic and cargo, consists of northern Malabar region. Northern Malabar means a half of Kozhikode district, Wayanad district almost in full, Mahe (under the Union Territory of Puducherry), and Kannur and Kasaragod districts in Kerala. Because of its proximity to Kodagu and other neighbouring districts of Karnataka, passengers will find it convenient to come to Kannur airport.

Any new airport will obviously take some traffic from others because the people who are travelling from Kannur are already taking flights from some other airports. Kannur airport is coming up only now. But an advantage here is that an airport nearer home increases travel opportunities and travel frequency for those who travel.

If you take the example of Kerala, there was only one airport in Thiruvananthapuram long ago. Kochi used to have a small runway at Willingdon Island and it was for the Navy. That was used for civil air operations also with great limitations. Kochi built another airport later, and then Kozhikode also got an airport. Despite Kochi and Kozhikode coming up, Thiruvananthapuram airport has not declined. It is still doing well. In fact, it has grown.

The original project cost was ₹1,892 crore. This included the cost of the land which was acquired by the Kerala government and transferred to us as their share of the equity in the project. Initially, we were given 1,200 acres as government’s share of equity in the project. The finished cost now will be about ₹450 crore more. It could be around ₹2,300 crore.

The current runway length is 3,050 metres. We are planning to extend it to 4,000 metres. The process of land acquisition is under way for the purpose. We are not constrained for land for the development of the airport in future also. Runway can be extended. If we need a second runway in future, that is also possible.

Air India Express will initially connect international destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha and Sharjah. Later, it will also connect Muscat, and perhaps Dubai.

For domestic, we are in discussions with two-three airlines. They are seeking our opinion on the strong routes for them. We said Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram could be the ones.

Initially, we expect to handle around 1.8 million passengers a year. The traffic will also keep escalating every year. We can handle 2,000 passengers per hour at the airport. This is the original capacity. But the terminal has been built slightly bigger. So we should be able to handle more.

Initially, we thought 80 per cent would be international passengers and 20 per cent domestic. But now we understand that Indian aviation has grown differently.

According to IATA, the domestic growth is very significant in the last three-four years. For international, we put such a high factor because of the Gulf passengers. I think we will have to revise that now, and give more weightage to domestic passengers.

Kannur has a large catchment area with high potential for traffic. We have built a modern airport. In all, we have succeeded in providing the latest facilities at the airport. Most airports take time to come to this level, as they were built earlier.