The revenue clocked by four airports in Kerala in the last three financial years paints rosy as well as bleak pictures. At present, Kerala has one Airport Authority of India (AAI)-run airport, Calicut International Airport, and three airports under public-private partnerships (PPP), including the recently privatised Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, Cochin International Airport, and Kannur International Airport.
Among the four airports, Cochin and Calicut airports returned to growth track soon after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, while Kannur airport has been making losses ever since it was opened in December 2018, largely due to high capital investment and low passenger traffic coupled with the Centre’s refusal to provide ‘point of call’ status to the airport, a classification that is mandatory for foreign airlines to hold operations at the airport.
On the other hand, Thiruvananthapuram airport, which made a record profit of ₹189 crore during the pre-pandemic period, continues to register losses despite the airport being taken over by the private concessionaire Adani Group in 2021. The airport, which garnered a revenue of ₹350 crore since its takeover on October 14, 2021, incurred a cumulative loss of ₹162.47 crore so far after the privatisation — ₹110.15 crore in 2022-23 fiscal alone.
