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Mittal was flying with his wife from Delhi to the UAE
KT APPDOWNLOAD
First flight from Keralas new airport lands in Abu Dhabi
All 180 passengers of the inaugural flight to Abu Dhabi, received a gift each from KIAL.
An Air India Express flight -- IX715 -- from Kannur to Abu Dhabi landed in the UAE capital at 12.30pm.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had on Sunday commissioned the Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL).
The first flight, IX715, was flagged off by the chief guests at 10am. All 180 passengers received a gift each from KIAL.
This is the fourth international airport in the state, the rest are in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
Hundreds of people, including politicians, were present to witness a cultural programme ahead of the take off of the Abu Dhabi flight. Two more flights were listed for the day.
Flights that would operate from here includes those to the UAE, Oman, Qatar, besides domestic ones to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai among others.
The KIAL is slated to serve more than 1.5 million international passengers annually.
It is expected to boost tourism in Kannur, Kasargode, Wayanad and increase trade and commerce in the handloom and spices sectors.
The Rs 1,892-crore airport is located at Mattanur, 16 km from Kannur, and is spread over 2,000 acres.
With this, Kerala will be the only state in the country to have four international airports. The other three are at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
Kannur International Airport takes on wings today .
A really proud moment and a long cherished dream for all Kannurites #KannurAirport @airportCNN pic.twitter.com/fsZ1Nrcj7Z
- Anoop Chathoth (@anoopc) December 9, 2018
The Kannur airport will have parking bays for 14 Code E aircraft or 20 Code C aircraft and will be able to handle 2,000 passengers at a time.
The KIAL is slated to serve more than 1.5 million international passengers annually.
The airport will start off with a runway of 3,050 metres. The runway length will increase to 3,400 metres, eventually touching 4,000 metres.
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