Flood-affected Kochi airport to reopen on Wednesday

Hundreds of flights to and from Cochin International Airport including those from the UAE that had to be cancelled or diverted due to Kerala floods are all set to fly again. The airport - which was shut down on August 15 after floodwaters entered its runway and wreaked havoc to its operations system - will be reopened today.

Managing director of the airport, V.J. Kurian, told Khaleej Times: "It was a mammoth task to get the airport back to action. Around 800 people worked 24/7 for eight days to get the airport back in order.

"It looks as beautiful as it was, if not better."

The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) said in a statement earlier that full-scale operations including both domestic and international flights will resume on Wednesday. The first flight is scheduled to take off at 2pm. Airlines will follow the current schedule for operations and services that were shifted to the naval base will be suspended.

One of the busiest in India, the airport suffered an estimated loss of Rs2.2 billion. Nearly 800 runway lights got damaged and a 2.6km-long boundary wall collapsed when it got water-logged. 20 per cent of the solar panels of the world's first solar-powered airport also got damaged in the flooding.

"It was a tough job. Our staff, relative agencies, cleaners ... everyone worked hard for this. This was the worst monsoon we have seen with almost 10 million people affected. Almost 90 per cent of our staff also got affected. But they all worked round the clock to get the airport open and ready," Kurian said. "I think anywhere else, under normal circumstances, it would have taken at least a month to get an airport of this size back to order. It was a tough job, but we did it."

The airport was first scheduled to commence operations on August 26, but was later postponed to August 29 due to the extensive damage and inability to mobilise manpower to do restoration work.

Many families, especially those who flew to Kerala from the UAE and other Gulf countries for summer holidays, got stranded after the airport was shut.

"We were supposed to return on August 24. Our plans had to be changed when the airport unexpectedly closed. We are flying on September 1 as my children's schools will reopen on 2nd," said Meera Rajesh, a housewife based in Abu Dhabi.

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