It was originally operated by the Royal Air Force as an airbase during World War II.
Most notably, the famous Malayalam actor Jayan was killed in a helicopter accident here during the shooting of his film Kolilakkam on 16 November 1980.
The Indian Army later recovered the lands, which had been illegally occupied by local residents.
The Tamilnadu Government is also planning to convert this facility into a UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) training range along with a Drone port for Indian Armed Forces.
[6] In 2020, the airstrip was taken over by the Government of India, with plans to construct a new airport under the UDAN scheme.