Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) will resume its operations from August 29, three days later than the earlier commitment of August 26. The airport has been shut since August 15, due to the flood situation in Kerala.
An official statement by the airport reads, “A meeting was held at CIAL to review the damage control activities at Kochi airport, wherein most of the stakeholders including airlines and ground handling agencies expressed their concerns over mobilising manpower. It was informed that 90 per cent of their staffers got affected by the flood and are out of station. Nearby hotels, restaurants, and eateries still remain close. As central Kerala is yet to recover from post-flood trauma, it is a daunting task to arrange local commutation, logistics of catering items, which will cause a cascading effect on the passengers. In view of these apprehensions, CIAL decides to extend the date of resuming operations for three more days. We will be starting all operations at 14hours on August 29, 2018.”
Meanwhile, few airlines have temporarily moved their operations from Kochi to Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, while some are operating from the naval air base in Kochi.
Cochin International Airport is Kerala’s busiest airport and sees more passenger traffic than the combined figures of the other two airports of the state – Thiruvananthapuram, and Kozhikode. cial.aero
Pranit Sarda
