BPCL to set up aviation refuelling station at Karipur

Right after acquiring the international status, Karipur airport, the only airport in the Malabar region, is set to have the third aviation refuelling station with Bharath Petroleum Limited making a niche into the scene after Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petrolium Corporation limited (HPCL).

"The Rs 2-crore refuelling station would have a fuel capacity of 400 kilo litres and it would be commissioned by the end of September 2006", BPCL aviation business head S P Mathur said at a press conference.

This would be the third such facility being set up in the state by the BPCL after the state-of-the-art refuelling station at Nedumbarssery International Airport, Kochi, where it holds equity stake and the one at Thiruvanthapuram.

With the station at Karipur, the company will have 21 aviation refuelling stations across the nation, including those at eight major airports in the southern region.

With more than 75 years of aviation fuelling service, the company with a turnover of Rs 4,300 crore in the aviation sector claims 21 percent market share, Mathur said at the press conference.

Karipur airport has shown a tremendous growth in recent years and the upgrading would bring in new airlines and more number of outbound flights, he said.