Will Kannur Airport snatch passengers from Mangaluru Airport?

coastaldigest.com news network
October 1, 2017

Mangaluru: Even though Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) director V V Rao has rubbished the possibilities of losing passengers to Kerala’s fourth international airport, which is expected to be commissioned within a few months, his counterpart at Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL) has spelt out a greater competition.

If everything goes as expected commercial operations at Kannur Airport would commence by mid-2018. Already 95% of the work on the air-side and 90% of the work of the integrated terminal building of the Airport are over. Apron, flyover, service roads, fire rescue station, IMD’s met park, STP, service block and auxiliary buildings have been completed a few months ago.

Unlike Mangaluru Airport, Kannur Airport is built on a public private partnership (PPP) model, in which the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has an equity stake of 10 percent, the state 35 percent, public sector units 25 percent and investors 30 percent. The new airport would have a handling capacity of 4.67 million passengers and 60,758 tonnes of cargo per annum by 2026, in addition to being able to handle 39,638 aircraft movements yearly with peak aircraft movement at 18 per hour.

According to Rao, international and domestic passengers from Kasaragod and Kodagu region would never prefer Kannur Airport over Mangaluru Airport. He opines that only passengers from Kannur area, who were boarding flights from Calicut airport, may use Kannur Airport, but not those from Mangaluru region.

On the other hand, Managing Director of KIAL P Bala Kiran is expecting passengers not just from Kasaragodu and  Kodagu regions but also from Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Mysuru and coastal districts of Karnataka too as the new Airport is expected to handle more Gulf flights.

The KIAL authorities are also planning to hold talks with Karnataka government towards development of Kodagu and Kannur Road via Virajpet. The Centre’s consent towards the survey of Mysuru-Thalassery Rail line via Madikeri as announced in the recent budget will be a stimulus in the promotion of tourism and goods services.

“Kannur Airport looks for business from passengers who have been depending on either Kozhikode or Mangaluru Airports. Moreover, we have enough land for setting up allied business centres to boost the business for airlines. We will also give aprons for night stay for aircraft,” the chief project engineer of KIAL, told coastaldigest.com.

Gulf Airlines

Even five years after obtaining international tag, Mangaluru Airport has failed to attract foreign airlines, whereas many Gulf-based airlines have expressed desire to operate services to the Kannur even before the commissioning of the Airport. Apart from Air India, Air India Express, GoAir, Air Arabia, Qatar Airways, Air Asia India, Ethihad Airways, Jet Airways, Silk Air, Gulf Air, Oman Air, Spice Jet, Emirates, Fly Dubai, and Indigo are the airlines that have come forward.

The Runway

After 2010 Mangaluru air crash, the AAI had proposed to expand MIA’s new runway. The existing runway meets the requirements of Airbus 320/321 and Boeing-737 aircraft. Expansion is must to felicitate the landing of wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing-777 and Boeing-747. However, recently the AAI took a U-turn and indefinitely postponed its proposed runway expansion plans. AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra recently wrote to Karnataka Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia saying the expansion project is not feasible.

Quoting AAI, Rao said that the runway expansion project cost turns out to be too high, financially not viable and there is no guarantee that wide-bodied aircraft will land at the Airport even if huge amount is invested in extending the runway. Even if the runway is extended from the existing 2,450 metres to at least 3,050 metres (minimum requirement for wide-bodied aircraft to land), the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) may not give permission for it as it is a table top runway, he says.

On the other hand, Kannur Airport has a grater runway. The construction of a 3050 m runway began in Q4 2013 and completed on 29 April 2016. In September 2016, the KIAL board decided to increase the runway length to 4000m (13,123 ft) in Phase I itself along with a full parallel taxiway to enhance safety as reported earlier. When completed, Kannur will be the fourth airport in India to have a runway length of 4000 m after Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

Kodagu farmers upbeat

In the absence of the airport, the coffee planters and farmers in Kodagu involved in pepper cultivation, orange and anthurium farming were yearning for a better market.

Even if the farmers wanted to export their produce to other countries where such crops are much in demand, they were dependent on Bengaluru or Mumbai Airports. Although there was much demand for orange and anthurium in Gulf countries, the lack of facilities had become a hurdle.

Now, they see a ray of hope in the upcoming Kannur Airport, which may not only create further demand for native products, but also boost tourism, feel the representatives of Kodagu District Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KDCCI). Recently a team of KDCCI also held talks with their counterparts from North Malabar Chamber of Commerce and Industry from Kerala towards promoting tourism opportunities.

Comments

Tom
 - 
Monday, 2 Jul 2018

Let India progress. Let there be a healthy competition for the over all growth of our country. Kannur's main competion should be with Kochi. Let all the airports in India rise above the Indian standard!

faheem
 - 
Thursday, 12 Apr 2018

I will choose kannur airport, because price will be less, i request more flights from kannur to gulf region.

ali
 - 
Thursday, 7 Dec 2017

As a mangalorean it is better to land in Kannur in order to get relief from trouble by saffron authorities for no reason.

Sameer
 - 
Wednesday, 8 Nov 2017

I am from Mangalore, I will definitely use Kannur Airport. Mangalore Airport staff/authorities are infamous for mistreating the passengers. Last year, they didn't return my visa copy. I had to ask for it. 

 

Recently, after arrival they took more than 1 and half hour to release the luggage from the aircraft to the belt. All passengers were waiting tirelessly.

 

Rizwan
 - 
Monday, 2 Oct 2017

Some mangalorean May use Kannur to avoid  the mangalore table top runway & trouble of  air indiA express staff and flight.

Ahmed K. C.
 - 
Monday, 2 Oct 2017

Those passengers from Northern Kerala presently using Mangalore airport would surely use Kannur airport in future. Also those people from around Mangalore who are troubled by authorities at Mangalore may also move towards Kannur airport. 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 16,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 16: Hundreds of people gathered to felicitate the newly appointed Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Monday.

"Everyone is a team, I'm not alone. We all are together and we will work together," Kumar had said after his appointment.

Shivakumar was appointed as the chief of Karnataka Congress last week on Wednesday.

Party leaders Eshwar Khandre, Satish Jarkiholi and Saleem Ahmed were appointed working presidents of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: With looming uncertainty and no likelihood of an early economic recovery in sight, the bull run in gold prices is here to stay. Analysts expect domestic futures to touch ₹ 52,000 per 10 grams in the next few months, till Diwali.

Experts also predict that with the current trend, gold may reach historic levels around ₹ 65,000 per 10 grams in two years time.

Futures of the yellow metal have touched new highs in India off late. On Wednesday, the August contract of gold futures on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) touched an all-time high of Rs 48,589 per 10 grams.

It has, however corrected since and is currently trading at ₹ 48,057 on the MCX, higher by ₹ 116 or 0.24 per cent from its previous close.

Market experts are of the view that both domestic and international gold prices are yet not done breaching records and will touch new highs in days to come.

The resurgence in the number of new cases of coronavirus infection across the globe has added to the uncertainty and fears.

Speaking to media persons, Anuj Gupta, DVP for Commodities and Currencies Research at Angel Broking, noted: "In short term we are expecting it to reach ₹ 48,800-49,000 and for long term, we are expecting ₹ 51,000-Rs 52,000 till Diwali."

On the prices in the international market, he said that it may reach around $1,790 per ounce in the near term from the current levels of $1,762 and the long term, it is likely to be around $1,820-1,850 per ounce.

Gupta noted that with International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest downward revision of economic outlook, both global and of India, and the rising number of cases and high demand by gold exchange traded funds (ETF) have led to this record breaking rise in gold prices.

Covid-19 battered India's economy is projected to contract by 4.5 per cent this fiscal, according to the IMF and the global output is projected to decline by 4.9 per cent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below the IMF's April forecast.

Hareesh V, Head of Commodity Research at Geojit Financial Services, said that gold's safe haven appeal will remain on the higher side as there is little hope of a quick global economic recovery amid rising virus cases across the world.

"Increased geopolitical instability and an under-performing dollar also lift the metal's sentiments," he added.

According to Prathamesh Mallya, AVP Research, Non-Agro Commodities & Currencies at Angel Broking, said that with the global output to contract and the economies in a deeper recession than most anticipate, gold as an asset class is a safe bet for investors across the globe.

"Although, the physical demand has declined drastically due to the restrictions and lockdowns, the activity of global central banks and their net purchases of gold signal that uncertainty will continue for most of 2020," he said.

He was also of the view that in the international market price of the metal may move towards $1,850 per ounce and in the domestic market it is likely to move higher towards Rs 50,000 per 10 grams.

"The investment demand as seen in the net additions of ETF holdings also signals that gold will shine for a much longer time even if the pandemic is under control. Till then, keep buying gold, if not in physical form, but in digital form," Mallya added.

Industry insiders like Aditya Pethe, Director, WHP Jewellers said: "I basically feel that the current trend for the gold is bullish and for the coming next 2 years, it is likely to move upwards. No one can predict the exact price as currently the trend is on rise but it might change after 6 months. In general for the coming 6 months to one year, the gold prices are likely to cross $2,000 which comes to roughly Rs 55,000. For a temporary moment it may reduce, basically fluctuate as well but overall trend of gold is going to be bullish."

On his part, Ishu Datwani, Founder, Anmol Jewellers said: "Yes - it's very likely that the gold price could easily go up to Rs 60,000-Rs 65,000 in the next two years. There is also a possibility of it going up even more."

"A lot of banks have been buying gold and there is also a possibility that the Indian rupee will depreciate against the dollar. This and geopolitical reasons will cause bullishness in gold."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 11,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 11: Scholar and writer M Chidanadamurthy passed away at a private hospital here on Saturday.

He was 88 and is survived by wife, son and daughter.
He was a well-known scholar in Karnataka specialising in the history of Kannada language and ancient Karnataka.

He was also known for his campaign to conserve the monuments Hampi and to secure classical language status to Kannada Language. Murthy has also articulated that uniform civil code and an anti-conversion law must be enacted by the Government in India.

Murthy was the head of the department of Kannada Bangalore University. He was also associated with Kannada Shakti Kendra. As a historian most of Murthy's work has focused on scientific study of the Kannada Inscriptions.

He has attempted to contextualise inscriptions in their socio cultural setup. He has produced many books on the history of Kannada language and Karnataka. He has guided many research students.

Murthy was recipient of Rajayothsava, Sathiya Academy Award , Papama award and Alava’s Nudisiri award.
His mortal remains were kept at his residence for his fellow mates and relatives.

Several dignatories like B S Yediyurappa, S L Bhyrappa, S Suresh Kumar, V Somanna expressed their condolences to the veteran's death.

The final rituals will be held on Sunday with state honour.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.