Cochin International Airport (CIAL) opens its new 1.5mn sq ft integrated international passenger terminal for traffic today.
The world’s first fully solar-powered airport now also has India’s largest solar carport with an initial capacity to accommodate 1,400 vehicles in 225,000 sq ft covered by solar panels.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will receive passengers of the first flight, a Jet Airways flight from Muscat.
“The arrival and departure terminals will go fully functional in a week,” said P S Jayan, the airport’s corporate communications manager. “There’ll be no takeoffs from here on the first day.”
Vijayan’s predecessor Oommen Chandy opened the Rs 10.25bn terminal for fit-outs more than a year ago.
The company has since doubled its captive solar energy capacity and completed a four-lane road and rail overbridge ensuring seamless road traffic to the airport.
The new terminal will address the air traffic needs of India’s fourth busiest airport in international traffic for another 20 years, managing director V J Kurien said.
The new terminal – capable of handling A380s and more than three times bigger than the old one – has a peak hour passenger capacity of 4,000. It has provisions for 112 check-in counters, with in-line baggage screening facilities, 100 immigration counters, 19 boarding gates, 15 aerobridges, six baggage conveyer belts and fully covered alighting and boarding areas.
The terminal, built at one-third the cost of other airports in India as its officials claim, will be able to handle 35mn passengers a year.
Fifteen real-size fibre elephants, complete with caparisons and other accessories, are installed inside the terminal. They will exchange colourful umbrellas every week and passengers will be able to get a real feel of the traditional Kerala Pooram festival.
The terminal also set a record, by Kerala standards, completing construction in two years, six months ahead of schedule thanks to 30-odd contractors and more than 5,000 workers toiling overtime, before being handed over for fitouts.
The existing 500,000-sq ft international terminal will now be converted to a domestic terminal, and the old domestic terminal will anchor charter flights.
The new terminal has the most advanced facilities. After check-in and emigration process, the passengers can board the flights along aerobridges on the second floor while the arrival lounge is on the ground floor.
After completing emigration proceedings, passengers can exit passing a huge walk-through duty-free shop of 50,000 sq ft.
