With Kerala reeling under floods again, authorities of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) have said that the airport will not be operational till 3 pm on August 11, 2019.
Ten flights towards Kochi have been diverted to other airports. These include the following:
“Kochi airport operation is temporarily suspended due to water logging in the apron area," a statement by the CIAL PRO said.
The airport apron or tarmac is the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, or boarded.
Sixty per cent pf the operating area of the airport is lying submerged and areas including the fire station, goods carrying area and taxiway of Terminal 3 have been inundated.
Though the airport was shut till 12.00 am on Friday, the suspension of operation was extended to 9.00 am later, and to Sunday afternoon after that. All flights flying to and from the airport have been cancelled or diverted.
The heavy water flow in the Periyar river has once again caused the airport which is situated on a low lying place to flood. Last year too, the airport was shut for many days during the floods. There had been much criticism over the location of the airport.
Aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan had told TNM in 2018, “Cochin airport is built on a low plateau and is not an ideal location for an airport. The flooding of the airport is an example of what happens when an infrastructure is built on or near a waterbody.”
Many districts of Kerala have been inundated due to heavy rains and rivers overflowing. By Thursday night, thousands of people were shifted to more than 100 relief camps operational all over the state.