The Airports Authority of India has handed over 17,000 sq ft of space in the old terminal building of Mangaluru International Airport to the Coast Guard to position its air squadron.
The long-pending demand of the Coast Guard for the space to park its aircraft and other operations had been approved by the AAI on January 27, MIA director J T Radhakrishna said in a release here.
The old terminal was not being used for passenger aircraft operations.
The Coast Guard, which now has airbases in Kochi and Panaji, is planning to park its two Dornier aircraft at the old terminal.
He said the aircraft and helicopter of the Coast Guard would use the air traffic services being provided by AAI at the airport for its operations.
On passenger traffic at MIA, Radhakrishna said in the first nine months of the current financial year, the airport handled 12.42 lakh passengers, including 7.39 lakh domestic and 5.02 lakh international passengers. The traffic had increased by 22 per cent compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
(Reopens MDS1)
Alleging that it was an incomplete project, CPI(M) however hit out at the UDF government for conducting the trial landing at the Kannur International Airport, saying it was an election stunt.
"It is an election stunt by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. It will take one more year for the completion of the project," CPI(M) Kerala Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said in Kochi.
"The airport is being built for landing passenger aircraft and they arranged a seven-seater Indian Airforce Dornier aircraft to conduct trial run. They were making a mockery of people of the state by bringing such a small aircraft for landing. Such a small aircraft can land even in school grounds," he said.
He also alleged that crores of rupees were spent from the public exchequer for "staging this election stunt".
