South India’s new airport to help Gulf travelers, boost local tourism potential
The Kannur International Airport in Kerala is set to be a boon for over eight million Indian expatriates living and working in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, a large number of whom belong to the South Indian state.
For expatriates living in and around Kannur, this will has the potential to emerge as another hub in the Malabar region after Calicut. The airport is set for commercial flight operations in September.
With 13 percent of Kannur-Thalassery population employed abroad, the airport located 20 kilometers from Kannur city and in the vicinity of Kannur-Mattannur-Mysuru highway, is expected to facilitate easy travel plans for the locals and nearby places.
Understandably, travelers from the region are excited about the opening. Fazlu Rahman Kaidal, Sales Manager with IME-RS Components, Muscat said: “The opening of an international airport at Kannur will reduce our local travel time. Now we will reach our home within 45 minutes after coming out of the airport. Otherwise, we had to travel all the way from Calicut to reach our home.”
Sameer Ahmed from Kasargod, who owns textiles business in Dubai, says earlier they had to fly to Mangalore airport (in Karnataka) and then hire a cab to Kasargod. “With the opening of Kannur airport, which is located in Kerala just like Kasargod, it will be of great convenience for us,” he says.
Benefit for tourism
Tourism in the area is also likely to reap its dividend as top destinations like Mysuru and Coorg are within easy reach from Kannur.
The airport will serve as a new gateway for tourism development since Kodagu (Coorg) is closer to Kannur and thus enhance connectivity between the two, boosting tourism.
It is highly likely that tourists wishing to visit Mysuru and Coorg may now opt to travel via Kannur airport – instead of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport – and the itinerary will alter once the airport becomes operational.
People flying to Kannur can skip traffic to reach their destinations such as Madikeri or Mysuru, unlike from Bengaluru.
Profitable hub
K.S. Shibu Kumar, Chief Project Engineer-in-Charge of Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL) said that the airport will be able to handle more than 20 landings a day.
Spread over an area of over 2,100 acres and equipped with modern facilities, around six aero bridges, 48 check-in counters and integrated terminal building of 1 million square feet, the airport will be a boon for travelers in this region.
According to him, it is projected to spawn a profitable hub of domestic commercial and residential development, in addition to travel and hotel and allied services generating employment opportunities. The terminal building will have the capacity to handle 2,000 domestic and international flyers during the peak hour.
“Apart from domestic, international connectivity is being offered by Air India Express to eight destinations including Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Kuwait, Muscat, Doha and Dubai. GoAir is connecting to Dammam (Saudi Arabia), and Jet Airways to Abu Dhabi,” Shibu Kumar said.
“We have also approached MOCA to explore possibilities of opening a bilateral policy to bring in foreign carriers who have keen interest to fly to Dubai,” said Kumar.
Solar-powered
The airport will be able to handle 1.8 million passengers annually and about 80 percent of airport traffic will be international and 20 percent domestic. Kerala’s second greenfield airport, its fourth with the “international” tag, the airport will be soon fully solar-powered and LEED certified.
Nearby airports includes the Calicut and Mangalore international airports. At present, the Mangalore airport handles about 50 aircraft a day – 25 arrivals and 25 departures while the Calicut airport, which has emerged as the seventh top international airport in the country, now operates 60 international movements (arrivals and departures) and eight domestic flights daily.
Taking environment concerns into account the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) has instructed the authorities to earmark their corporate social responsibility funds for sustaining the ecosystem in the area.
Media reports last week said that the airport decided to opt out of the bandwagon of regional flights under the Union government’s Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (ordinary citizens of the country fly or UDAN) scheme.
Domestic travel
As the focus remains on international travelers, KIAL, the operator of the airport, will not get any revenue from the domestic flights operated under the UDAN scheme as it cannot impose landing and parking, and terminal navigation landing charges on the airline in addition to discounts on route navigation facility.
UDAN is a Government of India endeavor to make air travel to India’s tier II and tier III cities affordable to the common man. The idea is to put smaller cities and remote regions on the aviation map, by getting domestic airlines to ply more regional routes.
Built as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis, principle approval to set up the Kannur airport was sanctioned in 2008 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA).
In 2010, Government of Kerala formed a company by the name Kannur International Airport Limited and all clearances were received from the federal government by 2013. The construction began in 2014 and is now ready for commissioning.
Courtesy: english.alarabiya.net
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
