Thiruvananthapuram International Airport , is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

which serves

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, the capital city of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

, India. Established in 1932, it is the first

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

in the state of

and fifth international airport of India, officially declared in 1991. It is the operating base of

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the ...

Air India Express Air India Express is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. It is operated by Air India Express Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian flag carrier airline Air India. It operates around 649 flights per week to 33 de ...

IndiGo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

and

SpiceJet SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fl ...

. Spread over an area of , the airport is approximately due west from the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

and the

Padmanabhaswamy Temple The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala, India. The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Tamil and Malayalam translates to "The City of Lord Ananta" (The Ci ...

, from

Kovalam Kovalam is a region in the city of Trivandrum, around 13 km southwest of the city center, whose beaches are a tourist destination. Etymology Kovalam means "coconut grove," after the coconut trees which are common there. History Kovala ...

beach, from Technopark and from the under construction

Vizhinjam International Seaport The Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport, also known as the Vizhinjam Port is an under-construction port on the Arabian Sea coast at city of Trivandrum . Developed in three phases, the first phase is expected to get completed ...

. It shares a visible proximity to

Shankumugham Beach Shankumugham Beach is a beach in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, south India. The beach is on the western side of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and is very close to Trivandrum International Airport. The vast stretch of white san ...

making it the nearest airport to a

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

in India, just about 0.6 miles (approx. 1 km) away from the sea. The airport is the eighth busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic and the twenty second–busiest overall. In fiscal year 2018–19, the airport handled more than 4.4 million passengers with a total of 33,093 aircraft movements. In addition to civil operations, the airport headquarters the Southern Air Command (India) of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct ...

(IAF) and the

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The Indian Coast Guard was formally es ...

for their operations. IAF have an exclusive apron to handle all their operations. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters to the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology which carries out

pilot training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a st ...

activities. The airport hosts

's Narrow body Maintenance, repair and overhaul unit – MRO consisting of twin hangars for servicing

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

type aircraft, servicing mostly

aircraft.

History

The airport was established in 1932 as part of the Royal Flying Club under the initiative of Lt. Col. Raja Goda Varman, husband of

Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi Maharani Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi (1916-2008) was the only sister of the last ruling Maharajah of Travancore, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma and of his successor, Sree Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma. Under the matrilineal ''Maru ...

, the ''Rani'' of

Attingal Attingal is a municipality in Thiruvananthapuram metropolitan area in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state, India. It was the location of the Attingal kingdom, under Travancore. It is the headquarters of Chirayinkeezhu Taluk, and t ...

and of

Travancore Kingdom The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. Raja Goda Varman, a trained pilot, felt the need of an airport to accommodate Travancore in the aviation map of India and requested the Travancore Durbar to initiate the process for establishing an aerodrome. A detailed report was made and presented to the King by Consort Prince in this regard. It may be mentioned that the King was the brother of Lt. Col. Raja's wife, and the colonel's own children were the heirs to the throne. In 1935, on royal patronage of Maharaja Chithira Thirunal,

Tata Airlines Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...

made its maiden flight to the airport using DH.83 Fox Moth aircraft under command of India's first pilot Nevill Vintcent carrying Jamshed Navoroji, a Tata company official, and Kanchi Dwarakadas, commercial agent of Travancore in Karachi, with a special mail from the Viceroy of British India, Lord Willingdon, wishing birthday greetings to the Maharaja. The first flight took off on 1 November 1935, carrying mails of Royal Anchal (Travancore Post) to Bombay. In 1938, the Royal Government of Travancore acquired a Dakota as Maharaja's private aircraft and placed the first squadron of Royal Indian Air Force (Travancore) for protection of the state from aerial attacks. After Independence, the airstrip was used for domestic flights with the construction of a new domestic terminal, Terminal 1. International operations were initiated by

to cities in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

in the late 1970s using Boeing 707. By early 80s, the then Indian Airlines started service to Colombo, followed by service to Male. Later,

SriLankan Airlines SriLankan Airlines (formerly known as Air Lanka) is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is currently the largest airline in Sri Lanka by number of aircraft and destinations and was launched ...

(then Air Lanka) and Air Maldives (now Maldivian started operations. Followed by Indian Airlines, that started a service to Sharjah. On 1 January 1991, TIA was upgraded to an international airport, making it the fifth international airport of India after Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. On 1 March 2011, the first flight operated from the new international terminal, Terminal 2. IX 536 (Air India Express) from Sharjah marked the first arrival. Air India Express operated the first departure to Dubai from this new terminal. IndianOil Skytanking is the company which introduced single man refuelling in India and started refuelling operations at Trivandrum in March 2016. This was the main hub for the defunct Kairali Airlines from 9 January 2013, to 2017. In November 2018, the Central Government cleared a proposal by the

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...

(AAI) for leasing out six of its airports, including Trivandrum. The following month, AAI commenced an international competitive bidding process to award Operations, Management and Development (OMD) contracts for the six airports. The

Adani Group Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. It was founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, with the flagship company Adani Enterprises. The Group's diverse businesses include po ...

GMR Group GMR Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in New Delhi. The group was founded in 1978 by Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao (G M Rao) and comprises several companies including GMR Infrastructure, GMR Energy, GMR Airports, GMR E ...

and

Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. is the industrial and investment promotion agency of the Government of Kerala (India), for the promotion and development of medium and large scale units in the State of Kerala. As the Nodal A ...

(KSIDC) participated in the bidding process which was won by the Adani Group. Since some public interest litigations were filed with respect to the bidding process for the airport, the Union Cabinet give its approval for awarding the airport to Adani subject to the outcome of Writ Petition. Accordingly, AAI signed a letter of agreement with Adani in September 2020. Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Limited (ATIAL), floated by the Adani Group to run the airport, would operate, manage and develop the airport for a period of fifty years. As per the agreement, ATIAL would get control of the airport only after a concession agreement was executed and the performance bank guarantee was paid and subject to clearance of legal hurdles.

Facilities

Runway

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has a single -long

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

, equipped to operate any type of aircraft. It has a -long parallel taxiway.

Terminal

There are two terminals. Terminal 1 is for domestic flights (except Air India), and Terminal 2 is for all international flights as well as all domestic flights of Air India. The international terminal ground operations are handled by Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. It is fully air-conditioned with WiFi facility. The terminal features spacious lounges, natural lighting with extensive use of glass roofing and better conveyance facilities for passengers. It has three baggage carousels and elaborate immigration/customs facilities. Flemingo, India's first privately owned duty-free operator is managing the

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

at the international terminal. The domestic terminal has basic amenities including cafés, a beer and wine bar, a book-seller, free local calls, Specialized baby care room and phone-recharging points. Into Plane Services fuelling operations handled by IndianOil Skytanking. TVM Terminal 3 Airside

Terminal 1 (Domestic)

The domestic terminal was the first terminal of the airport inaugurated by Chief minister of

EK Nayanar Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (9 December 191919 May 2004) was an Indian Communist politician of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M). He served three terms as the Chief Minister of Kerala (1980–1981, 1987–1991 and 1996–2001) fo ...

in 1992. It has an area of and can handle 400 passengers at a time. The terminal has two Aerobridges and two remote gates. All airlines except

are served by the domestic terminal.

Terminal 2 (International)

The newly built Terminal 2 has three additional jetways and parking bays to accommodate 8 aircraft. The terminal is built opposite to the current terminal across the runway and is closer to the city side. The terminal, constructed by the AAI and designed by the UK firm,

Pascall+Watson Pascall has several meaning including: * Pascall (company), an Australian and New Zealand confectionery company * Pascall Prize * Pascall, another name for the Monica (grape) People *Alex Pascall * Geraldine Pascall *Jeremy Pascall See also *P ...

architects, is expected to provide impetus to the development of the IT sector and the tourism industry in the southern districts of

. The international terminal covers an area of . It is able to handle the passengers of three

Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wit ...

s and one

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

aircraft simultaneously (roughly 1500 passengers). The annual handling capacity of the terminal will be 1.8 million. The check-in area has a floor area of and the arrival area . To enable the passengers to check in at any counter, a Common Users Terminal Equipment (CUTE) is installed. X-ray machines are attached to the side of the conveyor belts for faster clearance of baggage. The entrance to the terminal is from the Chacka-Eenchakkal road. A bridge has been built across the Parvathy Puthanar canal to link the new terminal to the Kazhakuttam-Inchivila NH (National Highway) 47 bypass. The new terminal has a car park area that can accommodate about 600 cars. There is a pre paid taxi service counter and foreign exchange (Thomas Cook India) counter on arrivals area. Thiruvananthapuram Airport was included in Ministry of civil aviation strategic plan for 2010–2015 to upgrade as Category-A airport by developing to aerodrome CODE 4E/4F, construct parallel runway with taxiways alongside both runways and so forth. P 20160211 085640

Air traffic control

The

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

(ATC) tower is tall. There are plans to build a new tall ATC tower for Thiruvananthapuram Airport near the new international terminal. The airport has a CAT-1

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS), D

VOR VOR or vor may refer to: Organizations * Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales * Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster * Volvo Ocean Race, a yacht race Science, technology and medicine * VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in ...

and

distance measuring equipment In aviation, distance measuring equipment (DME) is a radio navigation technology that measures the slant range (distance) between an aircraft and a ground station by timing the propagation delay of radio signals in the frequency band betwee ...

(DME). The airport is also equipped with a Mono-pulse Secondary Surveillance Radar,

Air Route Surveillance Radar The Air Route Surveillance Radar is used by the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration to control airspace within and around the borders of the United States. The ARSR-4 is the FAA's most recent (late 1980s, early 1990s) ...

and an

Airport Surveillance Radar An airport surveillance radar (ASR) is a radar system used at airports to detect and display the presence and position of aircraft in the ''terminal area'', the airspace around airports. It is the main air traffic control system for the airspace ...

which allows approach and area control of the airspace around the airport and nearby air routes.

MRO facility

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport hosts Air India's Narrow body Maintenance, repair and overhaul unit—MRO consisting of twin hangars for servicing Boeing 737 type aircraft, servicing mostly Air India Express aircraft. The Maintenance Repair Overhaul is set up on of land at a cost of Rs. 110 crores it was commissioned on 16 December 2011. The maintenance of two aircraft can be simultaneously done at the two hangars present at the MRO. The facility is state-of-the-art with of workshop, apron, electrically operated and vertically moving hangar door system, warehouse and office space. The Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility of Air India Charters Limited (AICL) at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport was given permission to carry out the crucial ‘C’ checks of their Boeing 737-800 fleet.

Other operations

In addition to civil operations, Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters to IAF and Coast Guard for their strategical operations. IAF have an exclusive apron to handle all their operations. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters for Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology. The academy has it own hangar facility at the airport. The hangar facility can accommodate 10 trainer aircraft.

Expansion

Further expansion of the airport has been planned with the AAI demanding 82 acres for the demolition of the existing domestic terminal and the construction of a newer one and other related facilities for Thiruvananthapuram Airport. The state government has agreed to acquire 18 acres for the construction of the domestic terminal. The AAI is planning to construct a new terminal of around 40,000 square metres, which would spruce up the city airport's total terminal area to 75,000-square-metres. Paper works, including drawing of plans, for the new terminal building have already begun at the AAI headquarters. The plan is to complete the construction of the new terminal within 18 to 24 months after the state government hands over the land to the Airport Authority of India. The elevation of new terminal would be identical to the existing Terminal 2.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

The following cargo airlines fly to the airport: * Gulf Air Falcon Cargo * SpiceXpress

Statistics

Security

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is listed among the major airports of India. Its safety and security are handled by the

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is an attached office of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India). It is the regulatory authority for civil aviation security in India. It is headed by an officer of the rank of Director general of Poli ...

through the Central Industrial Security Force#Airport security (CISF). In the past, the airport security was under the control of

airport police Airport police units are a security police agency assigned to perform law enforcement functions at airports. They provide a wide range of law enforcement duties and responsibilities including patrol, investigation, traffic flow management, and cont ...

(under the state government). However, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, the airport security was handed over to CISF. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also has advanced security equipment including X-RAY Baggage inspection (X-BIS), Explosive Trace Detection System (ETDS) and provision of an In-Line Baggage Screening system; at the NITB, state-of-the-art Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), Flight information Display System (fids) and Public Address (PA) systems, as well as an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for flight information, are there for passengers' convenience. In-Line Baggage Screening system (ILBS) was installed at Terminal 2 on 21 July 2020.

References

External links

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport
at the

{{Tourism in Kerala 1932 establishments in India Airports in Kerala Airports established in 1932 Buildings and structures in Thiruvananthapuram Transport in Thiruvananthapuram