Terminal 3 of Cochin International Airport Limited set to function from April 18

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has finally informed that the full-fledged commercial operations of its new international Terminal-3 (T3) will commence on April 18 with all international departure and arrival services shifting to the terminal from 1 pm on the day. The reason for the delay in starting actual operations at T3 was the delay in deploying adequate number of additional CISF personnel for security at the terminal. It was on March 11 that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had made the official launch of commercial operations and everybody expected the operations to be full-fledged in a week and a half.

It was reported that the non-representation of the Central Government and the BJP in the formal inaugural function of the terminal on March 11 had caused heartburns among them which was resulting in the delay in starting the operations due to the ‘Central hurdle’ of deploying CISF forces. A CIAL official release on Friday said that the CISF has informed that sufficient CISF personnel to man security at T3 will be deployed by April 16. “They have started arriving in different batches from Friday. In the light of this CIAL has directed all airline companies to shift their international operations to T3 from April 18,” the release added. The Union Home Ministry had earlier sanctioned the additional security posts for T3.

The CIAL release said that the Dubai Dreamliner service of Air India will start service from T3 at 9.20 am on April 18. Following this, the check-in proceedings of other airlines will be shifted to T3 and it will be completely shifted by 1 pm. CIAL has already set up a world-class terminal in T3 with executive lounge, 50 shops, medical centre, customs and immigration counters and duty-free shops. CIAL is set to shift the domestic operations to T1 after T3 becomes functional which will increase the domestic space five fold from the existing domestic terminal space.