Thiruvananthapuram International Airport

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, is an international airport that serves Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the state of Kerala and the fifth international airport of India, officially declared in 1991. It is the operating base of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and SpiceJet. The airport, spread over an area of 800 acre, the airport is approximately 3.7 km due west from the city centre and the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, 16 km from Kovalam beach, 13 km from Technopark and 21 km from the under-construction Vizhinjam International Seaport. It shares a visible proximity to Shankumugham Beach making it the nearest airport to the Arabian Sea in India, just about 0.6 miles (approx. 1 km) away from the sea.

The airport is the second-busiest airport in the state of Kerala, eighth-busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic and the 16th overall in India, as of 2024. In the financial year 2023-24, the airport handled over 4.4 million passengers, with a total of over 30,000 aircraft movements. In addition to civil operations, the airport headquarters the Southern Air Command (India) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Coast Guard for their operations. IAF has 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 activities. The airport hosts Air India's narrow body maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit consisting of twin hangars for servicing Boeing 737-type aircraft, servicing mostly Air India Express 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, the Rani of Attingal and Travancore Kingdom. Raja Goda Varman, a trained pilot, felt the need for an airport to accommodate Travancore in the aviation map of India and requested the Travancore Durbar to initiate the process of 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 children were the heirs to the throne.

In 1935, on the royal patronage of Maharaja Chithira Thirunal, Tata Airlines 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 the Maharaja's private aircraft and placed the first squadron of the 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 Air India to cities in the Arabian Peninsula in the late 1970s using Boeing 707. By the early 80s, the then-Indian Airlines started service to Colombo, followed by service to Male. Later, Gulf Air, Sri Lankan Airlines (then Air Lanka) and Air Maldives (now Maldivian) started operations. These were followed by Indian Airlines, which 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 that 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 (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, GMR Group and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) participated in the bidding process that was won by the Adani Group.

Since some public interest litigations were filed concerning the bidding process for the airport, the Union Cabinet gave 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 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.

Aippasi and Panguni festival processions
For decades, the airport has been traditionally pausing operations and reschedules flights twice a year to enable religious processions to pass through the airfield. The airport issues a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) twice yearly before the runway is closed for the bi-annual Aippasi festival, which falls in October-November, and for the Panguni festival, which is held during March-April. The processions used to pass through the same route even before the airport was established in 1932. The temple issues special passes to participants in the 'aarattu' to pass through the airfield's operational areas. The procession is escorted by priests, members of the erstwhile Travancore Royal family, caparisoned elephants, police band and armed and mounted police personnel besides large number of devotees and is a grand spectacle for onlookers.

Runway
Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has a single 3407 m-long runway, equipped to operate any type of aircraft. It has a 1880 m-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 a 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 at the international terminal.

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



Terminal 1 (Domestic)
The domestic terminal was the first terminal of the airport inaugurated by Chief minister of Kerala EK Nayanar in 1992. It has an area of 9200 m2 and can handle 400 passengers at a time. The terminal has two Aerobridges and two remote gates. All airlines except Air India 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 Architects, is expected to provide impetus to the development of the IT sector and the tourism industry in the southern districts of Kerala.

The international terminal covers an area of 35000 m2. It can handle the passengers of three Airbus A340s and one Boeing 747 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 950 m2 and an arrival area of 600 m2. 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 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 in the arrivals area.

Thiruvananthapuram Airport was included in the Ministry of civil aviation strategic plan for 2010–2015 to upgrade as a Category-A airport by developing to aerodrome CODE 4E/4F, constructing a parallel runway with taxiways alongside both runways and so forth.



Air traffic control
The air traffic control (ATC) tower is 18 m tall. There are plans to build a new 50 m tall ATC tower for Thiruvananthapuram Airport near the new international terminal. The airport has a CAT-1 instrument landing system (ILS), DVOR and distance measuring equipment (DME). The airport is also equipped with a Mono-pulse Secondary Surveillance Radar, Air Route Surveillance Radar and an Airport Surveillance Radar that 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 (MRO) unit consisting of twin hangars for servicing Boeing 737 type aircraft, servicing mostly Air India Express aircraft. The Maintenance Repair Overhaul is set up on 6.07 ha 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 5,000 ft2 of workshop, 10,000 ft2 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 and Airforce NCC Cadets' Trg. IAF have an exclusive apron to handle all their operations. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters for Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology. The academy has its own hangar facility at the airport. The hangar facility can accommodate 10 trainer aircraft.

Expansion
In November 2023, the AAI announced that the new terminal building will be built at an area covering 44,000 sq.m., an increase from the original plan of 2018, and that out of 18 acres, 16 acres will be acquired for extending the runway to accommodate larger aircraft and handle more flights by September 2024.

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 through the Central Industrial Security Force#Airport Security (CISF). In the past, airport security was under the control of airport police (under the state government). However, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, 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.

The In-Line Baggage Screening system (ILBS) was installed at Terminal 2 on 21 July 2020.