KOCHI: Five-year-old Leyah Rinosh, a resident of Kottayam and a passenger on the IndiGo flight from Kochi to Bengaluru, became the 10 millionth passenger at the Kochi airport in 2023.
The record was achieved on Thursday evening when 173 passengers boarded the IndiGo flight to Bengaluru, establishing Kochi as the only airport in Kerala and the fourth in south India to host over one crore passengers annually.
The Kochi airport handles 63.50% of the total air passengers in the state. Compared to figures from the previous year, the airport witnessed a substantial increase of over 20 lakh passengers. Of the one crore passengers this year, 54.04 lakh were domestic passengers and 46.01 lakh international.
A total of 66,540 flight services were operated during the period. In 2022, 80.23 lakh passengers travelled through the Kochi airport, with a total of 57,006 flight operations.
“This achievement is a reflection of the efforts made by CIAL in infrastructure development and airport marketing,” said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the chairman of Cochin International Airport Limited, in his special message during a celebratory event organised as a gesture of gratitude to the passengers.
“In an era when corporates are taking over the management of the country’s airports, the excellence achieved by CIAL gives hope to the public sector. The management is hopeful that not less than one crore passengers will travel through this airport in the coming years. The government has instructed CIAL to facilitate the development of essential facilities for the same,” he added.
CIAL managing director S Suhas presented a special memento to Leyah, capturing the essence of this momentous occasion.CIAL executive directors Saji K George and Jayarajan V, and commercial head Joseph Peter were among those who attended the event.