Cochin International Airport Limited may sit on Air Kerala

KOCHI: The Director Board of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) which is set to meet on Thursday is unlikely to take a decision on the Air Kerala airline venture despite the new aviation policy announced by the Central Government.

CIAL Managing Director Mr V.J. Kurien told DC on Monday that more time is needed to study the pros and cons of the issue including the details of the new civil aviation policy and this will be conveyed to the CIAL chairman Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

“It is not just the 0/20 condition in the new policy wherein 20 aircraft are only needed to operate the service abroad, waiving the previous condition of 5/20, that is to be taken into account. There are said to be conditions that only the 21st aircraft can be taken to a foreign destination and others. So we have to study them in detail,” Mr Kurien said.

CIAL had proposed to raise Rs 1,000 crore through crowd funding to run Air Kerala and the initial investment for operations now is expected to be Rs 600 crore. Mr Kurien made a presentation before the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan outlining the roadmap of the company up to 2023, on June 9 and it focuses on using CIAL subsidiaries other than Air Kerala to generate revenue. 

This means taking the turnover from the current around Rs 500 crore to an ambitious Rs 3,000 crore by the end of 2023 It is now almost clear that Ministers Mathew T Thomas, V.S. Sunil Kumar will make it to the revamped director board while either T.M. Thomas Isaac or E.P. Jayarajan will be the third nominee from the Ministry.

The commissioning of the new 15 lakh sq ft international terminal itself will change the dynamics of the airport company. The subsidiaries of CIAL, the CIAL Infrastructure Limited, Cochin International Aviation Services Limited (CIASL) and CIAL Duty-free and Retail Limited will together enable the airport company to achieve the targeted turnover.

The solar plant is generating 15.5 MW of power which is set to be 28 MW by the end of the year while the target of eight small hydro electric projects is 50 MW. “We plan to take the total power output to 100 MW by 2023 which will enable CIAL Infrastructure to sell four lakh units of power per day with a revenue of Rs 300 crore per year," said a CIAL official.

CIAL is having a steady plan for the utilization of the 1,283 acres which is expected to generate Rs 1,200 crore. The duty free revenue which currently stands at Rs 220 crore is to be taken to Rs 800 crore by taking up other duty free shops and retail business in other airports.  The revenue augmentation will be done with the construction of eight helipads and one airstrip entrusted to it by the State Government and operation of other airports.