Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) said on Wednesday it will resume operations only on 29 August instead of 26 August it had announced earlier as mobilising manpower has become difficult.
The airport has been shut since 15 August due to the worst floods to hit Kerala in nearly a century. CIAL said in a statement that extending the date of resuming operations became necessary after stakeholders, including airlines and ground-handling agencies, said most of their staff are affected by the floods and are out of station.
Emirates Boeing 777 take off from Kochi airport on the flood time
The floods have caused hundreds of deaths and displaced over 1.2 million people. “As central Kerala is yet to recover from the post-floods trauma, it is a daunting task to arrange local commuting and logistics of catering items, which will cause a cascading effect on passengers,” said the company statement. It added that it will resume operations at 2 pm on 29 August.
The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has suffered an estimated loss of over Rs 220 crores in the floods. CIAL management has launched rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure including 2.5 km long airport walls that collapsed after Periyar river overflowed. The runway, taxi bay, duty free shops and other areas of international and domestic terminals were also submerged, causing damage to electrical equipment including runway lights, the official noted.