Kerala’s busiest airport at Kochi is getting ready to resume operations on August 26 after being shut last week following severe flooding of the facility.
The rise in water levels damaged the terminal building, the runway, crucial navigation equipment and washed away a third of the perimeter wall, causing an estimated loss of ₹250 crore, officials said.
Officials said that the water had receded from the runway, tarmac and terminal building.
Repair works on
The runway has witnessed damages and will require patchwork. As many as 800 runway lights will be removed, tested and refitted. The repair works have already commenced at the airport, according to a statement on its website.
The instrument landing system, which aids navigation during night, as well as radars require repairing, according to an airport source.
While no damage has been done to the structure of the terminal building, passenger amenities and security equipment, including 22 X-ray machines and baggage carousels, have been damaged.
“The major challenge is restoring the perimeter wall to ensure security at the airport. Nearly 2.6 km of the total 8 km-long boundary wall has been washed away by the flood waters. We are bringing ready to use concrete or metallic sheets to secure the premises,” a spokesperson at the airport said.
The Kochi airport is the State’s biggest airport and saw a total of 87.6 lakh passengers in 2016-2017, of which nearly 53% used the airport for international travel.
The airport sees more passengers than the combined figures for the two other airports in the State at Thiruvananthpuram and Kozhikode.
