Cochin International Airport’s 3rd terminal to open next week

Kochi, Feb 19: The third terminal at the Cochin International Airport here will be opened next Friday by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, an official said.

“The brand new terminal is built in a record time of two years over an area of 15 lakh sq ft and will handle 4,000 passengers,” the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) official said.

Opened in 1999, CIAL is the country’s first greenfield airport built and managed in the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.

It is the biggest of the three international airports in Kerala. During 2015, a record 70 lakh passengers, both domestic and international, used the airport in more than 41,000 aircraft movements of various airlines.

The airport has been making profits consistently since financial year 2003-04 and has a base of about 18,000 individual investors, the official said.

The total paid-up capital of the airport is Rs.306.06 crore of which the Kerala government accounts for Rs.100 crore.

The CIAL became the first airport in the world to operate on solar power last year when a 12 MW solar power plant was commissioned.  (IANS)