On Thursday, an Air India Express flight - Boeing 737/800 aircraft successfully landed at Kannur International Airport as part of its trial landing. Today, on Friday, IndiGo followed suit and landed its ATR 72 aircraft with 6 approaches for the DOVR check. Notably, Kannur airport had been undergoing preparations for the trial landing for quite a few weeks. After the initial rounds of testing and trials, the Kannur International Airport was only left with the heavy carrier trial landing, which concluded with the touchdown of Air India Express aircraft. With this, the authorities completed a major step towards marking the completion of Kannur International Airport, which is set to commence operations in October this year.
The trial flight took off from Thiruvananthapuram airport in the morning and hovered over the airport for approximately 45 minutes before finally landing at11.35 AM. The aircraft made six attempts before successfully landing at Kial. The authorities also conducted docking trials at Kannur airport by docking with one of the passenger boarding bridges in the airport apron. After its successful landing, the flight was also given a water salute by airport fire tender units as it made its way towards the apron. After landing, the flight crew including Capt. A. Sreenivasan Rao and Capt Aravind Kumar were received by KIAL Managing Director V. Thulasidas.
It’s noteworthy that the 6 approaches at the airport with 3 each happening at 07 and 25 ends of runway proved the DVOR approach procedure check. Before this, on Wednesday, the Directorate of Civil Aviation(DGCA) had finished the pre-aerodrome licensing inspection. The authority is expected to grant the license to the airport by the end of this month following this landing.
Finally the Kannur International Airport Flight Schedules are out.
As per the reports, the newly developed Kannur International airport is the fourth airport in Kerala and spans over 2300 acres of land. The 95,000 sqm terminal building is the eight largest in the country, and the runway is designed to suit Code E aircraft including the likes of Boeing B-777 and Airbus A-330. The airport has also received a LEED gold rating for energy and environment conservation thanks to its solar energy implementation. The airport has incurred an expense of Rs 2292 crore to the government and it’s expected to cater to 1 million passengers in a year, the number is expected to grow five times in the next half-decade. Initially, only the domestic airlines will operate at the airport for destinations like Delhi, Chennai, Goa, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Ghaziabad, whereas, international airlines would follow up next.
After a few days, International operations would also be facilitated at the Kannur International Airport by Jet Airways, GoAir, Air India, Air India Express and Air Asia. It is being said that the airport will cater to 20 flights daily.
