Dubai: The new Kannur International Airport (KIAL), the fourth international airport in Kerala, commenced operations today as its first flight, an Air India Express flight, took off to Abu Dhabi.
Two flights operated by GoAir are also scheduled to leave for Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram later in the day.
The KIAL airport is Kerala’s fourth international airport after Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
On December 8, Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala’s official account, @CMOKerala posted on Twitter: “Union Civil Aviation Minister Shri @sureshpprabhu and CM Pinarayi Vijayan flagged of the first flight from #KannurAirport, an Air India Express flight to Abu Dhabi. #KannurTakesOff”
On December 8, he had tweeted: “Kannur Takes Off! Kerala celebrates the opening of #KannurAirport, which is the fourth International airport in the State. Among Indian states, Kerala now has the highest density of International airports.”
Keralites rejoiced and took to social media to discuss.
Twitter user @bugsdas posted: “NORTH MALABAR DREAM TAKES OFF – Finds its place on the aviation map... The first flight took off at 10am– Air India Express, to Abu Dhabi.”
Twitter user @MFreakn shared pictures with the popular hashtags: “#KannurAirport #KIAL #KannurInternationalAirport”
And Twitter user @sabusijo posted: “#Kerala is really proud to have 2nd PPP (Public-private partnership) model airport and our 4th International airport. #KannurAirport opens to a world of varieties and culture that will boost our tourism potential and the export of our own handmade items and spices.”
