Kannur: Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the Kannur International Airport this morning making Kerala the only State in India to have four such airports.

Spread across 2,000 acres and costing close to Rs.1,800 crore, the new airport in Kannur can handle around 2,000 passengers at a time and will serve more than 1.5 million international passengers yearly. The runway length of the airport is 3,050 metres and will be extended to 4,000 metres. The massive 4,000-metre runway is considered comfortable for take-off and landing of wide-bodied planes like Boeing 737 and Airbus A-380.

The first flight from the airport, an Air India Express flight with 180 passengers to Abu Dhabi, was flagged off by the chief guests. All the passengers overboard received a gift from KIAL. International flights operating from Kannur will include those to the UAE, Oman and Qatar. The airport will also be connected to Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

The three other international airports in Kerala are in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. It should be noted that a good chunk of people in the South Indian State work in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and lots of flyers depart from Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode to these countries on a regular basis. During festivals like Onam, Vishu, Eid and Christmas, heavy traffic on this route is quite common with high ticket prices. The airport is expected to boost tourism in Kannur, Kasargodu, Wayanad.

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