KANNUR: Key in ‘CNN’ to book a flight ticket to Kannur. The city of looms and lores will be hereafter known as ‘CNN’ in the skies with International Air Transport Association (IATA) allotting the mandatory destination code to Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL). The allotment of the three letter Code ‘CNN’ was first announced by KIAL managing director P Balakiran in a tweet in which he said “Happy to inform our Kannur airport received today the IATA three-letter location code CNN (short for Cannanore)”.
A letter sent by IATA officer for Coding and Multilateral Interline Traffic Agreements (MITA) Jeffrey Ross to Harsh Pandey of Air India Charters Limited, Mumbai, said: “We are pleased to inform you your company has met all the requirements for the assignment of a Location Code. Therefore, and in accordance with IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolution 763, we have assigned you the above-mentioned Location Code.”
The airport code is an IATA location identifier. All airports in the world are identified by a three-letter code defined by the IATA. The codes are published biannually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. It is used for passenger reservation, ticketing, and baggage-handling systems.
Though the announcement of Code CNN has brought much cheers, the actual operation of the airport, the state’s second greenfield airport being made in public-private partnership mode, will commence only by next year. The airport has already received the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) four-letter code - VOKN.