New international terminal at Cochin International Airport Limited by March 11
The good time to launch operations has been identified as between 4 pm and 5 pm.
KOCHI: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is set to open its new international terminal (Terminal-3) on March 11, if the official plan does not face any hurdle. The CIAL top brass is understood to have sought the Chief Minister’s availability on the date between 4 pm and 5 pm for the launch of its operations. “Though we have suggested this date to the Chief Minister Mr Pinarayi Vijayan, we also have given a window between March 7 and 15 for him to choose as per his convenience. We have time till March 20 to open the terminal as per the permission granted by Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the commercial operations have to be started by that deadline.
Otherwise we will have to take DGCA permission again for its opening. The good time to launch operations has been identified as between 4 pm and 5 pm. A Jet Airways flight from Dubai or an Air India Express flight from the Middle East will touch down first at the runway to mark the inauguration of the terminal,” sources said. The terminal has got the clearance of the DGCA and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the inspection by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) has also been completed. The 15 lakh sq ft T-3 has been built at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore. With the commercial opening of the T3, the existing international terminal will be turned into domestic terminal and its area will be increased to 5 lakh sq ft.