CIAL logs 10 million passengers in single financial year

Cochin International Airport Limited the first one in the country built under PPP model, today logged the magical figure of 10 million passengers in a single financial year, a top company official said.

CIAL, also the first airport in the world fully powered by solar energy, passed through the major milestone, in its 19-year-long historywhen IndiGo flight 6E-563 from Chennai docked at its Terminal-2, CIAL Managing Director V J Kurien said.

As a gesture of gratitude, he gifted a one sovereign gold coin to the representative of the passenger who disembarked from the aircraft.

CIAL handled 8.94 million passengers in the 2016-17 financial year and witnessed a steady increase in traffic this year with a total passenger volume of 10 million plus, despite the financial year yet to conclude.

Kurien said the airport registered 22 per cent increase in domestic passenger volume, touching 4.84 million, compared to that of 3.94 million in the 2016-17 financial year.

The International sector witnessed an increase of four percent with 5.16 million passengers, compared to 4.98 million in Financial Year 2016-17, he said.

The total aircraft movement increased by 13 per cent from 62,827 in the last fiscal to 68,898 in this fiscal so far.

There are 25 airlines operating from CIAL, offering connectivity to almost all destinations in the Middle East and to cities in the far east like Singapore, KualaLumpur and Bangkok, he said.