Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the newly-constructed Kannur International Airport (KIA) on December 9, the airport's managing director V Thulasidas announced Friday.
The airport, to be operated by Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL), is the second greenfield airport to be built under public-private partnership (PPP) model in Kerala after Kochin International Airport.
The new airport is spread over 2,330 acres of land with a runway length of 3,050 meters, and is expected to serve more than one million passengers annually to begin with.
The Kerala government owns 32.86 per stake in KIAL, while 22.54 per cent stake is held by state and Central Public Sector Undertakings.
Another 35.21 per cent holding rests with others, including qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), individuals, companies, while the remaining 9.39 per cent stake is with the Airports Authority of India.
Air India Express, international budget arm of national carrier Air India, will operate the inaugural flight to Abu Dhabi from Kannur, Thulasidas said in a statement.
"More airlines are expected to start services to and from Kannur in January. GoAir, IndiGo, and SpiceJet are awaiting final clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)," he said.
If GoAir gets the nod to fly in the coming days, it may commence services from the new airport on day one, Thulasidas said, adding, "IndiGo will start services by the middle of January 2019."