The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is expected resume its operations on August 26, 2018 (Sunday) as announced earlier. Confirming the same, CIAL took to its Facebook page on Tuesday to announce, “We hope that we can resume operations on 26.08.18 as announced earlier.” CIAL said that flood waters have completely drained off its runway, taxiway and parking bays. It also stated milling work on the runway will be completed in two days. Meanwhile, CIAL said that cleaning work inside the terminals is in progress and re-construction work has already begun.
“To ensure utmost safety, all runway lights (almost 800 of them) have to be removed, tested and refitted. Another challenge is the re-construction of the flood-hit perimeter wall. We have lost almost 2,600 metres of the wall,” reads the statement.
Requesting the people to support them as they indulge in ‘hectic damage control measures’, CIAL said that they are rendering terminal management services to the Naval Air Base from where commercial operations are carried out for the time being.
The Kochi airport was shut down on August 15 due to floods which led to the runway, taxiway and apron to be submerged. It was initially slated to resume operations at 2pm on August 18, but owing to the severity of the floods, it was deferred to August 26. As the rains subsided in Kerala, Alliance Air began commercial operations from Sunday morning from the Naval Air Base in Kochi, initially connecting Kochi with Bengaluru and Coimbatore using the 70-seater ATR planes.
Kerala has been ravaged by the worst floods in a century following massive rains. More than 350 people have been killed since the monsoon began on May 29, while over 10 lakh people have been displaced owing to the floods and landslides.