Indistinguishable Commitment: Cochin International Airport to restart commercial operations

 KOCHI: The inundated Cochin international airport had a power outage but the 20-odd staff who were trapped inside made it a point to attend to the distress calls made by passengers on the airport helpline.

An indistinguishable commitment was on display for the past two weeks and helped CIAL keep its re-opening deadline of August 29. On August 19, when CIAL’s management arrived at the airport, they found that 35 lakh sq/ ft of their property was covered in slush. It was evident that the airport would require extensive cleaning and restoration work. According to the latest estimates made by CIAL, the floods had caused them a loss of nearly Rs 300 crore.

“The slush was all cleared out in two days. But the colour of the runway had completely changed. We attached a wooden block to an earthmover and slowly brushed the runway. Then we had around 150 workers sweep it clean before it could look spic and span once again,” said a CIAL official. The road near the taxiway was in a bad condition. CIAL officials organised a miller from Erode to repair it. 

The airport was also helped by Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru which lended it's   runway marker to help reinstate the CIAL runway as soon as possible. ClAL taxi drivers also pitched in to help restore the parking lot. CIAL is scheduled to resume operations at 2 pm on Wednesday.