Calicut International Airport

Calicut International Airport, also known as Karipur Airport, is an international airport serving the Metropolitan area of Kozhikode and rural Malabar in Kerala, India. It is located in Karipur, about 28km from Kozhikode and 25km from Malappuram. The airport serves as an operating base for Air India Express. It was the twelfth-busiest airport in India in terms of overall passenger traffic. It is the third-busiest airport in Kerala after Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. It was given international airport status on 2 February 2006.HistoryEarly yearsThe airport was inaugurated in April 1988.Calicut airport gained its sanction after a long period of struggle, which began in 1977, under the leadership of freedom fighter late K.P. Kesava Menon. In the 1990s, Gulf Malayalis played an important part in the development of the airport - they collected funds for the purpose, when the Union Government said it did not have funds. This led to the inception of, the Malabar International Airport Development Society, which helped raise funds for the airport's development. Consequently, major developments of facilities, such as extension of runway from 6,000 feet to 9,000 feet to facilitate operation of big-bodied aircraft, were carried out, with loans from HUDCO.It received the status of an international airport on February 2, 2006, which led to development in its infrastructure, for handling the operation of international flights from its terminal. It holds the distinction of being the 12th-busiest airport in India, and 11th-busiest in cargo handling, in terms of its passenger traffic.