Kerala CM Oommen Chandy inaugurates CIAL's new international terminal

KOCHI: Terminal 3, the new international terminal of Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), was inaugurated on Friday by the state Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

With a built up area of 15 lakh square feet, the Terminal 3 of CIAL will have a peak hour handling capacity of 4000 passengers. The foundation stone of the terminal was laid on February 1, 2014.

Built at a cost of Rs 1000 crore the terminal will be fully operational by May. The existing international terminal will be converted into domestic terminal. The new domestic terminal will have an area of 5 lakh square feet.

Terminal 3 will showcase the Kerala temple architecture in its facade. The arrival area of the terminal will have a 50,000 sq ft duty free shop.

In 2015, around 74 lakh passengers used the Cochin International Airport, which is an increase of 21 % over the previous year.

Cochin International Airport was recently in the news for setting up a solar power unit. On August 18, 2015, CIAL became world’s first airport to be completely powered by solar energy.