New airport at Kannur to give Malabar region a leg up

Kannur airport
The new airport is expected to give a boost to Kannur and other towns in northern destinations.

All eyes are on the Kannur International Airport where the first passenger flight took off on Sunday. The new airport, the fourth in Kerala, is expected to give a boost to Kannur and other towns in northern destinations.

Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) counts on the airport to make it profitable, while businesses in Kannur looks to benefit from the improved connectivity.

The airport, which sprawls over 2,300 acres of land, cost Rs 2,350 crore and it is expected to cost Rs 250 crore per year on maintenance.

A total of 1.73 crore passengers flew threw the airports of Kerala in 2017-18. Kochi had the lion’s share of them at 1.02 crore. Less than 73 lakh passengers flew through Thiruvananthapuram and Karippur airports.

Kannur airport
The Kannur airport is the fourth in Kerala.

The Kannur airport could eat into the revenues of other airports. However, the flow of domestic tourists into Kerala is on the rise. The number of tourists arriving in Kochi rose by 20 per cent from a year earlier. Kannur is also a favourite destination as it is the northernmost airport in the state.

The Kannur airport could turn profitable faster if it uses the non-aerospace space judiciously. Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) generates revenue of Rs 250 crore per year on average from its duty-free shop. The CIAL also benefits from its associated entities which run hydro electric projects for the state government. The KIAL could emulate the model.

Kannur airport
The airport, which sprawls over 2,300 acres of land, cost Rs 2,350 crore.

Most of the international airports are situated far from the suburbs because they take up more than 1,000 acres. These airports gradually become the epicentres of airport townships. Moorkhan Parambu could also take off from its present status as a little-known terrain on the fringes of Kannur.

The KIAL has promised to develop an airport village outside the terminal. The company could set its eyes farther on a township which includes a vast network of roads, hotels, fine dining restaurants, hospital, clubs, theatres, schools, shopping malls, sport grounds and apartment complexes.

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Lofty promise

A business summit organised by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce in Kochi two years ago saw investors promising as much as Rs 4,000 crore for various projects in north Malabar, including tourism, agriculture, food processing, education and health.

These offers would not have materialised but for the upcoming airport project. The challenge is to make sure that the promises are kept.

The chamber plans to organise a Malabar Travel Mart as a follow-up to the business meet, its president K Vinod Narayanan said. The chamber also has plans to set up a “destination village” on the periphery of the airport to facilitate event tourism and conference tourism.

The Kinfra’s energetic drive to acquire 4,000 acres of land for business ventures is promising to Kannur. An IT park and a plastic processing unit are expected to come up in the park. The Kinfra is also on the process of acquiring another 506 acres for a proposed factory that manufactures surgical equipment.

A government-sponsored international ayurveda research centre is in the preliminary stage of planning, while three multispeciality hospitals are awaiting finishing touches just 30 kilometres off the airport.

Malabar dream takes off with the first flight in Kannur
The Kannur airport could lure in more tourists to the northern destinations.

Northern passage

Kerala’s booming tourist sector had often bypassed the northern districts. A typical tourists touches down at the Kochi airport and finds his way up to Thiruvananthapuram to take a return flight home. The Kannur airport could lure in more tourists to the northern destinations.

The state government and official agencies have launched programmes worth Rs 700 crore to boost tourism in northern Malabar. The Kannur airport will function as the pivot of all these programmes.

The highlight of the proposed tourism push is the Rs 325 crore Malanad Malabar River Cruise project that aims to link the waterbodies and waterfront villages and islands in Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The project also draws from central government. The state government has pumped in Rs 53 crore while the centre has offered Rs 83 crore.

The first phase of the Rs 200 crore Thalassery Heritage Tourism project has already started. A project worth Rs 63 crore to link the pilgrim centres in the Kannur district is pending approval from the central government.

Kannur airport
Even the neighbouring Kodagu district in Karnataka could benefit from the Kannur airport.

The government has been granting permission to rejuvenate all the parks and tourism centres in the district in phases. Even the neighbouring Kodagu district in Karnataka could benefit from the Kannur airport.

Missing five stars

The district does not have a single five-star hotel to boast of, even though top airline staff’s perks include stays in five-star hotels.

The KIAL has offered to allot space for a five-star hotel within the airport premises. The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation has submitted a blueprint for setting up a luxury hotel on the premises, chairman M Vijayakumar said.

A beach hotel is proposed to come up on the Muzhuppilangad beach, Kerala’s only drive-in beach, 35 kilometres away from the airport. The Rs 45 crore project is expected to be built on 10 acres. The KTDC also plans to spruce up its property on the Bakel beach by adding more cottages to the existing six. A convention centre is among the features expected to be added.

Even private entrepreneurs have bought land by the airport to start their business ventures. Most of them has set their eyes on the expected boom in conference tourism.

Kannur airport
The Kannur airport has 24 check-in counters.

100-year-old dream

The genesis of the idea of an airport in Kannur dates back to a century, as seen on a Malayala Manorama page from 1919. The daily reported that the authorities had plans to develop Kannur as an aviation hub. The authorities had been searching for about six acres off the town.

KIAL in a glance

* Controlled by the Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL)

* More than 6,700 shareholders; State government to hold 35 per cent

* Total cost of Rs 2,350 crore

* 3,050 metres of runway, with plans to increase the length to 4,000 metres

* Parking facilities for 20 aircraft

* Six aero bridges

* DVRO for navigation

* ILS for safe landing during bad weather

* Terminal building with an area of more than 1 lakh square metres

* 24 check-in counters may be increased to 48

* 16 immigration counters

* 8 customs counters

* Inline X-ray, self check-in and self baggage drop facilities

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