CIAL crosses one crore passenger mark

CIAL managing director V.J. Kurian welcoming Anil Krishnan who landed at the airport from Chennai, marking the milestone of CIAL logging 10 million passengers, on Wednesday.  

The airport now stands fourth in the country in terms of international traffic

On the back of a sharp rise in domestic passenger volume, Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has logged 10 million passengers in the financial year 2017-18.

The airport company, which handled 8.94 million passengers last fiscal, has registered a 22% growth in domestic traffic, taking the total number of domestic passengers to 4.84 million as against 3.94 million last time.

The international sector, on the other hand, rose by 4% to 5.16 million passengers as against 4.98 million last fiscal. The total aircraft movement also increased by 13% from 62,827 to 68, 898.

CIAL currently stands fourth in India in terms of international traffic, while in terms of total traffic, the airport company stands in the seventh position.

Marking the milestone, the company on Wednesday felicitated Anil Krishnan, a Palakkad native, who landed here from Chennai in the afternoon and gifted him a gold coin weighing one sovereign. V.J. Kurian, managing director, CIAL, attributed the achievement to the phenomenal growth in domestic aviation which outstripped international traffic. “Indeed, the sector has been growing so fast that airport operators have to double their capacity in every four years.

Terminal renovation

To ride the wave, CIAL has also embarked on a plan to renovate the existing Terminal-1 for domestic operations, which will become operational in May 2018,” Mr. Kurian said. On completion, the terminal will have a built-up area of 6 lakh square feet including seven aero bridges.

The new facility, which will encompass 56 check-in counters, will cut down the dwelling time of domestic passengers by one-third.

As many as 146 flights are being operated out of the airport in the domestic sector on a weekly basis, and plans are afoot to commence services connecting Kochi directly to cities including Kolkata, Lucknow, and Surat among others.

In the international sector, CIAL is in consultation with a couple of foreign airlines on commencing direct flights to Europe from Kochi.

“While some 250 passengers board flights from here to Europe, the lack of sufficient number of business class passengers is holding back foreign airlines from commencing services from here,” Mr. Kurian said.