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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No shame in saying that India can field multiple T20 teams: Suryakumar
New Delhi (PTI): India’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav believes the country’s talent pool in the shortest format has grown so vast that it could comfortably field two or even three international-quality teams at the same time, underlining the depth created by a thriving domestic structure and franchise ecosystem.
The flamboyant batter, who has overseen a period of remarkable consistency since taking over the leadership after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, credited the steady pipeline of players emerging from domestic competitions and the Indian Premier League for strengthening India’s dominance in T20 cricket.
Since Suryakumar took over the captaincy in 2024 -- right after Rohit Sharma stepped down following the World Cup victory in Barbados -- the Indian team has won 42 of the 52 matches played, reflecting team's dominance in a fickle format.
In a podcast interview with PTI Videos on Sunday, Suryakumar called the current group "the best T20 team India has produced", adding that India’s depth in T20 cricket is now too evident to be downplayed.
"If you talk about talent, I feel you can find talent regularly. There is IPL cricket, franchise cricket, then there is domestic cricket. You can see how many players come every year. So you can make as many teams as you want in T20 when I am talking about T20," Suryakumar said.
"So I feel talent is unlimited. If you can make two-three playing XIs, our base is so strong, of the Indian team. So this is not a modest and diplomatic reply. But now it is so strong, so there is no shame in telling the truth," he said.
Team effort behind 80 per cent win rate
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Suryakumar credited the team's success coming into the World Cup to a collective approach in the dressing room, saying a shared vision among players and support staff helped produce an impressive 80 per cent win rate in a notoriously unpredictable format.
Even with that success rate, the World Cup was not going to be a cake-walk because as Suryakumar noted, "we played bilateral matches one way, and in ICC tournament something else happened." For this reason, he needed to motivate the team to maintain the winning streak in the Feb 7 to March 8 tournament.
"I don't pay too much attention to statistics but I hate losing any game. If everyone in the dressing room moves in the same direction, only then can you achieve such a percentage," he said
India's consistency in T20Is over the past 18 months has been widely attributed to a stable leadership group led by Suryakumar and head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Batting a mix of instinct and reaction
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Known for his 360-degree strokeplay, Suryakumar described batting in T20 cricket as largely a reactive sport, with preparation accounting for only part of the process.
"I feel batting is about 70–75 per cent reaction. The remaining 25 per cent is instinct, what you decide to do in the moment. Once you enter the ground, you are almost in autopilot mode. You try to bat with rhythm and according to the situation," he said.
He also traced the origins of his unconventional range of shots to childhood rubber-ball games in Mumbai, where uneven boundary sizes forced him to improvise.
Thin line between courage and recklessness
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While his audacious strokeplay is often described as high risk, Suryakumar said he tries to stay on the right side of the fine line separating courage from recklessness.
"There is a very thin line between being courageous and being reckless. I try to stay on the courageous side. But if the situation demands a high-risk shot, you have to take it. High rewards often require high-risk decisions," he explained.
Clear understanding with Gambhir
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The skipper also highlighted his strong working relationship with coach Gautam Gambhir, revealing that the duo were almost perfectly aligned when they first sat down to select the team after he was handed the reins of the team and Gambhir took over as coach.
"Out of 15 names we both suggested, 14 were common. That means the thinking was the same. When the goals are clear, there are no arguments, only discussions."
Despite their professional success, Suryakumar said their personal dynamic remains unchanged.
"I still call him 'Gauti bhai'. It is like a younger brother and elder brother relationship," he said.
