Click to play videoCochin (Kerala): While the rest of the country debates over the efficiency of our airports, the Cochin International Airport is setting a benchmark of its own.
One of the lowest cost airports to be ever built, not only has it been a success model but is also turning out to be a huge hit among passengers.
An exporter who travels out of the country very often, Brijesh Pattai says he opted for Cochin because he wanted a hassle-free journey as he waits for the Air-Arabia flight to Sharjah with his sister Sudha and her eight-year-old child
“We always select Cochin airport for flying out as well as in. One it’s located centrally in the state, customs or the emigration behave so well, the service is so good,” says Brijesh.
And this small town airport is a hit with domestic flyers too.
“This is the most excellent and beautiful airport. The service is very good,” says a passenger, Ruby.
The country's first airport built on private-public partnership, the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is now building the country's first aerotropolis or airport city over 1300 acres of land.
Apart from the airport, it consists of:
- A 6.4 crore IT park.
- A world class golf course and a country club.
- A perishable cargo unit.
- Five-star and budget hotels.
- An aviation academy.
- A hanger and maintenance unit exclusively for Airbus 380, the largest aircraft in the world.
And all this apart there is a world-class duty-free shop that is already doing great business.
“The aerotropolis is master-planned keeping in mind a theme. The theme is two pronged. One is to promote employment in the state of kerala and another is to promote tourism. To promote employment we are putting an IT park which will give job to 15-20,000 people directly and indirectly,” says MD, CIAL, S Bharath.
So from 57 to 122 crore rupees in four years, he Cochin airport is today a case study for students at Harvard and CIAL is a consultant to a number of countries hoping to build low-cost airports.
A decade from now this airport will change the way we look at civil aviation in this country.
But till then passengers can only hope that the standards set here are emulated across the country.
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