[6][7] Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport could maintain stable growth, and it achieved the milestone of two million passengers in the twenty-third month of operations in November 2020.
[9] The first trial passenger flight operation was conducted on 20 September 2018, using a Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Air India Express.
[10][11] On the inaugural day, 9 December 2018, an Air India Express flight IX 715 (Boeing 737-800) took off to Abu Dhabi at 10:13 (IST), becoming the first commercial passenger aircraft to depart from Kannur International Airport.
Kannur had an airstrip used for commercial aviation as early as 1935 when TATA airlines operated weekly flights between Bombay and Thiruvananthapuram – stopping at Goa and Cannanore.
[20][21][22][23] After a prolonged wait, the airport received in-principle approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Union cabinet in January 2008.
[25] The public company Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL), under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, was registered in October 2009.
[28] Construction work at the airport was inaugurated by Defence Minister and senior Congress leader A. K. Antony on 2 February 2014.
On 29 February 2016, The first trial flight was landed and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Flag off for the inauguration of Runway.
[30] The first commercial aircraft to operate out of the airport was Air India Express IX 715 (Boeing 737-800) to Abu Dhabi, which took off at 10:13 (IST) on the same day.
[31] Aircraft of several foreign airlines touched down for the first time at Kannur International Airport in June 2020 as part of the repatriation flights arranged owing to the COVID-19.
[48][49] In July 2011, the Oommen Chandy government decided to make Airports Authority of India a consultant tasked with preparing a revised techno-economic feasibility report and a new master plan and design.
[50] As the Airports Authority of India failed to submit the report in time, the consultancy was canceled and Cochin International Airport (CIAL) was entrusted to prepare the detailed project report, but the floating of tenders for construction was further delayed as experts found several technical flaws in the design prepared by CIAL.
The first stage, EPC-I included complete earthwork, runway, taxiway, apron, ground lighting and associated infrastructure such as perimeter and operational walls.
[59] Infrastructure and engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was awarded work for EPC-I on 27 November 2013, after inviting bids.
[61] L&T also won the tender for EPC-II works including the construction of the passenger terminal building (PTB) on 25 June 2014.
Steps were initiated to procure lifts, a baggage handling system, passenger boarding bridges, and the four Airfield Crash Fire Tenders.
[67] The then Kerala Airports Minister K. Babu ruled out the popular demand to extend the runway to 4,000 metres (4,400 yd).
The Oommen Chandy government faced fierce criticism for organizing such an event when the whole airport project was not complete.
Work on the ancillary buildings – fire rescue station, power house, the area for the India Meteorological Department (IMD), sewage treatment plant, service block, and the airfield ground lighting substation were progressing.
[76] The newly elected Pinaryi government decided to begin land acquisition to extend the runway to 4,000 metres (4,400 yd) in August 2016.
It includes a 4,000 metres (4,400 yd) runway extension, a full-length taxiway, commissioning of a fuel farm, an aviation academy etc.
The airport has an integrated passenger terminal for both international and domestic travellers with a floor area of 97,000 m2 (1,040,000 sq ft) for arrival and departure separately.
The information could include wind speed, gusts and direction, temperature and dew point, visibility, density, altitude, thunderstorm, lightning etc.
An isolation bay, with a diameter of 125 metres (137 yd) is a special parking space created for an aircraft facing an exigency like hijack or bomb threat.
The original demands for transfer of the ten acres of airport land to the Navy included having a representative from Southern Naval Command on KIAL's board of directors, to set up the enclave.
[104][105][106] The Indian Air Force will have a presence at the airport with a separate enclave set up on ten acres of land.
India's first Coast Guard Academy is located at Azhikkal, 36 kilometres (22 mi) from the airport[citation needed].
The KIAL board authorized the airport's managing director to provide 10 acres on a long-term lease against token rent to establish the enclave.
[109] Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had sought airport land from KIAL to have a manufacturing base for helicopters.
The proposed Kannur-Mysore National Highway under Bharatmala project, passes through Airport provides easy access to the important cities and towns in Kerala and Karnataka states.