Kerala government proposes Kochi International Airport to be named after K Karunakaran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said the state would put up a request at the next director board meeting of Cochin International Airport Limited ( CIAL) to rename it after veteran congress leader and former State Chief Minister K Karunakaran.

"There have been numerous requests to change the present name of Cochin airport after Karunakaran, who was mainly responsible for setting up the country's first airport in the public-private-partnership route", Chandy said.

Though there was criticism from several quarters against the project at the beginning, Karunakaran 'boldly' went ahead with it, Chandy said.

The Chief Minister said it was for the Board of Directors to take a call on changing the airport name as it is a policy decision. "Government will present its request in the next general body meeting of the Board," he added.

Stating that CIAL which started operation in June 1999 was a success story of the state, he said the airport stood fifth in the world under the Investment profit ratio.

The issue was raised by Anwar Sadath (Cong) as a submission.