We will Make Mangaluru Airport Top 10 in the World – Sreekumar

We will Make Mangaluru Airport Top 10 in the World – Sreekumar

Mangaluru: “New State of art and advanced air navigation system like DCOR, Radar, ILS and advanced security system like Threat Containment vehicle to handle bombs, CCTV, CATFM are being introduced in Mangaluru International airport. At present, the Mangaluru airport is consistently performing well. According to ACQ rating, the Mangaluru airport stood second in India with a rating of 4.85 out of 5 and stood 30th in the world ranking. Last year in swacch Bharat Mangaluru stood in the first place. We can make Mangaluru number one in India and we will be able to make Mangaluru airport within the top ten airports in the world. With the facelift of the existing terminal we can make Mangaluru airport number one in the country”, said the Regional executive director S Sreekumar in a press meet held at the Conference hall, MIA premises here on September 14.

Addressing the mediapersons Sreekumar said, “In 2012 the passenger’s movement from this airport was only 7.5 lakh and in five years it has increased to 23.5 lakh passengers. Cargo movement in 2017 was 867 metric ton. Within one year it has increased to 2338 metric ton. The present progress is showing that this year there will be 100% growth means it will reach more than 4000 metric ton. Considering this growth of Mangaluru airport we made a very big master plan which covers the Terminal extension, widening of safety basic strip of runway and construction of part parallel taxi track. We have plans for the extension of Terminal Building and the total cost of the project is Rs 132.24 crores. The project will be completed by 2020. At present, the total area of the terminal building is 28,000 sqm and we will further extend its capacity to another 10,000 sqm. Two years we will have 6 additional passenger boarding bridges. Visa on arrival facilities, Three baggage claim belts in international arrival instead of present one and three baggage belts in domestic arrival instead of present two. Present chaos due to both arriving and departing passengers from one level, after completion of project arriving passengers will be brought down to new arrival hall at car park level. The elevated level will be only for departures.

Widening of Safety basic strip of runway and construction of part parallel taxi track. The total cost of the project is Rs 121 crores and the construction will be completed by August 2018. The safety of air operation will be enhanced to international standards. The runway handling capacity will be enhanced from the present 10 flights per hour to 20 flights per hour.

The extension of aircraft parking bays will be done at a cost is Rs 7 crore to accommodate more flights and to offer night parking facilities to airlines. The work will be completed by September 2019.

The facelift of the terminal building will be done at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore and will be completed by June 2019. Complete renovation of the Terminal building washrooms to international standards. Minor expansion of domestic SHA and the modern state of art false ceilings, claddings and planters.

Art Work

Additional features like the showcasing of art and culture of the region, the Guttu pillars, Pili dance, Yakshagana figures, modern art depicting Car street festivals will be done.

“Under the CSR activities, we have constructed Anganvadi in Malavoor village at a cost of Rs 14 lakhs. Construction of the memorial for air crash victims at NMPT Garden. Providing borewells in the villages. We have already started the Malavoor drainage system work at a cost of Rs 6.75 crore and the project will be completed by April 2019. We have signed a MoU between the district administration and airports authority of India. When the airport grows, we need to give importance to the development of the nearby villages”, said Sreekumar.

Airport director V V Rao and others were also present.