New Delhi: Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL), the second greenfield airport set up under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, near Mattannur in Kannur district would be inaugurated on December 9.

The date for inauguration was fixed as the Director General of Civil Aviation has accorded commercial flight operation licence to the airport, a release from the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Friday.

The airport built in an area of 2,300 acres has all modern passenger amenities.

At present the length of the runway is 3,050 metres and works to extend the length of the runway to 4,000 metres had already began, it was stated. After expansion KIAL will be the biggest airport in Kerala.

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The airport will have 24 check-in counters, self-baggage drop counters, self-checking machines and 32 immigration counters.

Work on seven aerobridges has been completed and the airport has arrangements to facilitate landing of big aircraft like Boeing-777. It has bays to park 20 aircraft at a time.

The Kannur airport will be the fourth international airport in the state, the others being in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.

Kannur airport is the second to be built under PPP route after Nedumbassery International Airport at Kochi.

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It is only 20 km away from Kannur city and 2 km from Mattannur on Kannur Mattannur Mysuru road.

Among the objectives of the airport include transforming the North Malabar region into a highly developed growth centre for travel, tourism and industries.

As many as 11 international airlines and six Indian carriers have evinced interest in launching operations from Kannur airport. The list includes Air India, Air India Express, Jet Airways, IndiGo, Spice Jet and Go Air.

Meanwhile, the authorities have decided to open the airport to visitors from October 5 to 12. The public can enter the airport from 10 am to 4 pm during these days with a valid photo-ID card.

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Construction of the airport, considered a flagship programme of the previous Congress-led UDF government, was inaugurated by then Defence Minister and senior Congress leader A K Antony on February 2, 2014.

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