It is said that CIAL cost only Rs 230 crores (around $50 million), took only 6 years, made a net profit after tax of Rs 30 crores (12% on total cost) in two years, has used only 1300 acres of land on which they now plan to have not only a second runway but also things like a township, golf course etc etc. Compared to this Bangalore and Hyderabad have each reportedly gone in for 4-5 thousand acres of land and the airport costs would probably be upwards of Rs 1000 crores each in about 3 years time. A careful comparison of these airport designs seems to be urgently called for. Goa is being pushed into a pie in the sky plan for a greenfield airport for A380s of all things and estimated to take 9 years. No cost figure has been provided but Rs 1000 crores might not be off the mark.
well done,a gr8 idea,which shud have bn implemented a few yrs back,i have travelled from trivandrum airport(ap) and the very 1st time i travelled i felt sorry for the lack of planning of our state,when 1000s of people travel from kerala to gulf n different parts of the world,v did not have a proper airline service or good ap facilities,n majority of pple travel in lankan, gulf,qatar airways.(y not indian?).n the worst part is most of them fly over kerala seeing their homeland from the sky and land in colombo and then have to wait for the connection flight for hours and then board the flight and land kerala in 45mins. if Indian flights had operated properly it wud have been a blessing for these NRIs and plus wud have benefited our own economy. 1 more issue i wud like to mention is the way the officials in our country treat NRIs,they dont even bother to luk up2 the face of the passenger who hands over the travels documents to them.i have bn in heathrow ap even though it is a much busier ap,the officials are much more friendly. the courtesy they have is 1 of the things that indian officials have to learn. to have an ap of intnl stds v hav to go far but let dis b the begining, welldone
as one of the many who started a service at CIAL on day one, i can safely say that what mr. kurien dreams will be a reality. CIAL is a matter of pride for us keralites...that such a venture is successful in industrially unfriendly Kerala is itself a reason to celebrate. all the best mr. kurian, we are with you......
