Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said the government will consider the proposal to revive the plans for ‘Air Kerala’, the state’s own airline company. He was speaking at the 18th annual general meeting of the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) here on Saturday. The project will be implemented jointly by the state government and the CIAL. CIAL managing director V J Kurian has been asked to conduct a feasibility study of the project, he added.
At a time when the mega projects and the land acquisition policy of the state government is in the limelight, the Chief Minister said that the market price will be given for the acquired land and those who give land for the projects will be the first beneficiary.
The CIAL announced 16 per cent dividend to its shareholders. The company’s total turnover during 2011-12 fiscal year was `276 crore. Growth in revenue was 13 per cent compared to the previous year. The profit has crossed `100 crore. Passenger traffic through the airport increased by nine per cent. About 4.72 million passengers used the airport during the last fiscal year.
“The CIAL is working on a plan to develop a new international terminal capable of handling 10 million passengers per annum. The engineering design for the same is in the final stages. The radar station at CIAL is expected to be functional by December. Once it is functional, the landing time of aircraft will be reduced to three minutes from the present eight minutes,” Chandy said.
The Chief Minister said that the work on the second phase of the CIAL golf course is progressing fast and it could be completed by the year end. Favourable measures will be taken to allot the remaining rights shares to the minority shareholders. Directions in this regard were given to the managing director, Chandy said.
The first priority for the jobs in CIAL will be given for those who had surrendered their land and houses for the project. He said that the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) system will be commissioned shortly.
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