After the inaugural of Kannur airport, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the fully renovated domestic terminal of the Cochin International Airport on Wednesday. The terminal, which has undergone a Rs 240 crore renovation, now boasts of state of the art facilities along with traditional Kerala architecture.
A highlight of the terminal is perhaps the ‘Kerala Art Arcade’ installed near the security check area on level 2. The new terminal is set up on the theme of ‘Ettukettu’ – a traditional house in Kerala - and the art arcade is designed with a ‘nadumittam’ with a Koothambalam replica and mural paintings. It also displays the state’s traditional dance forms which include Mohiniyattam, koodiyattam, Ottanthullal, Koothu, theyyam etc, according to a TOI report.
The terminal has been expanded from the previous 1 lakh square feet to 4 lakh square feet now and can house 4,000 passengers an hour now.
The terminal was earlier used for international operations. After the inauguration, the CM stated that the State Government was ready to take over the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, one of the state’s 4 international Airports, and run it like the Cochin airport under the PPP model. Earlier, the central government had passed an order to bring operations in several airports including the Trivandrum airport in Kerala under its control.
The CM also inaugurated the enhanced solar power capacity of 40 MW at the airport. Solar panels have been installed on the roof of the car parking area in Terminal 1. The commissioning of the new solar panel car park for the airport will make it the world’s largest carport (5.1 MW) in the world.