)
The Kannur greenfield international airport in Kerala will see trial landing of flights in December this year, said excise and ports minister K Babu.
The new airport, located in north Malabar, would later begin commercial operations in May 2016, he said.
A total 1,278 acre land has been handed over to Kannur International Airports Limited (KIAL) in two phases so far, and 645 acre more would be acquired in the next phase for the airport development.
Babu said land acquisition for the project (fourth international airport in Kerala) was progressing fast. More than 10 million cubic metres of earth had been cut and filled for the development of the runway and other facilities. Work on the terminal building was also progressing smoothly.
The Rs 1,892-crore project is proposed to be funded Rs 1,000 crore from equity and Rs 892 crore through debt. The state government has 35 per cent equity in the project, while PSUs have 23 per cent with a major chunk contributed by BPCL, and 26 per cent has been earmarked for airport PSUs and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
