Malappuram: The Central government's plan to privatise the profit-making Kozhikode international airport at Karipur in Malappuram district has met with political opposition.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which has a strong presence in the district, said there was no need to privatise the airport which is the third highest profit-making airport under the Airport Authority of India (AAI).

Local MP and the chairman of the Airport Advisory Council, M P Abdusamad Samadani told Onmanorama that the profit-making airport can continue in the public sector. "For years, we have been demanding the Centre to take initiatives for the further development of the airport. This would help attract more aircraft and passengers thereby improving its revenue,” he said.

He was responding to a reply given by Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh on Monday in the Rajya Sabha where he said Karipur airport would be privatised along with others as decided earlier.

As per the data tabled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Lok Sabha, the Karipur airport made a net profit of Rs 95.38 crore for the year 2022-23, only behind Chennai (Rs 169.50 crore) and Kolkata (Rs 482,30 crore). All three airports come under public sector AAI.

However, industrialists believe that privatisation is the only way to upgrade the airport. K M Basheer, president of the Malabar Development Forum, said business houses have been alerting authorities how the airport was falling behind its regional rivals like Kochi international airport. "Passengers from the region depend on Kochi airport for better flights and direct connectivity to major cities. We believe privatisation would help develop the airport faster and attract many more airlines,” he said.

He said airport privatisation and expansion would help improve tourism and allied industries in the nearby regions.

The Kerala government crossed years-long hurdles to acquire land for the development of the airport. The authorities have also completed the land survey.