Kannur International Airport

Kannur International Airport is an upcoming international airport under construction at Mattanur in Kannur district, about 25 kilometers from the cities Kannur and Thalassery in the state of Kerala in India. It is being built on a public private partnership (PPP) model by Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL), in which the Airports Authority of India has an equity stake of 10 percent, the state 35 percent, public sector units 25 percent and investors 30 percent. The IATA code for the airport was announced by the MD on 26 July 2017 as CNN. The airport will begin commercial operations in September 2018.HistoryThe airport project was initiated in 1996, when C. M. Ibrahim was the union minister for civil aviation. With his help, the E.K. Nayanar-led state government pursued the project in 1997, starting with the proposal of a greenfield airport at Kannur. The Government of Kerala appointed Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) as a nodal agency for the implementation of the project in January 1998. The latter was appointed to undertake feasibility studies, which were submitted to the Government of India in 2005. The proposal for the development of the airport received ‘in principle’ approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation in February 2008. "Kannur International Airport Limited" (KIAL) was founded in December 2009. The foundation stone for the airport was laid on 17 December 2010.