KOZHIKODE: Several shops are planning to shut shop at Kozhikode International airport after a steep drop in passenger traffic due to the partial closure of the airport for runway repair.
The revenue loss and the reduction in passengers are much higher than the projected estimate of the Airport Authority of India, airport sources here said.
Though AAI claims that there was only a dip of 22 percent in revenue and 19 percent in passenger traffic, sources said that the figure was much higher. They also said that the possible period of closure of the airport would be much more than what is being projected by AAI.
“They have not started any work yet and say the works would start in September. However, the information that we get here is that the works could be further delayed and the airport would remain partially closed for a longer duration,” a senior official of Kozhikode International Airport said.
According to sources, there is a dip of more than 2,000 passengers a day at Kozhikode airport and several allied operations have come to a standstill.
“Shops are going to be shut due to lack of business and the number of visitors passes issued in a day has come down drastically. The authorities could have delayed the closure if they had no plans of starting the works soon,” the official added.
When contacted, Kozhikode airport director K Janardhanan said the revenue loss was only 22 percent and there was no ‘detectable’ dip in visitors to the airport.
“The revenue loss estimated by us is about 22 percent and the reduction in passengers is about 19 percent. There is not a considerable dip in the visitors to the airport but I am yet to get analytical data on this,” Janardhanan said.
He said only one duty free shop from the two available at the airport had shut down operations. “That is because of some other reason and not because of the reduction in business. No other shops have been closed yet,” he added.
Earlier, airport authority sources had told DC that Kozhikode Airport may never be fully functional if the land was not made available for runway expansion.
Earlier, Director Peter Abraham had said that Kozhikode Airport was not ever suitable for wide-bodied aircraft operation and there was always an element of risk in allowing operation by larger aircrafts. Now political parties have started to rally for immediate expansion of the airport by acquiring land.
They demand that adequate compensation should be paid to the landowners and that the runway expansion should be carried out immediately.
