Yesterday, I wrote about how the Kochi Airport was shut down for four days because of the Kerala Floods, which caused practically everything at the airport to be submerged. While there are many heartbreaking images of the Kerela Floods, this is one of the most powerful ones about the state of the airport, today.
What Kochi airport looks like right now. View from an @IndianNavy chopper on relief duties. #KeralaSOS pic.twitter.com/EcMrCcYgjp
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) August 16, 2018
Owing to the unprecedented floods, Cochin International Airport Limited has decided to shut down the airport till August 26, 2018, instead of the earlier decision to keep it shut till August 18, 2018.
Of course, they will try their best to revive the airport at the earliest, but given that the runway and many other parts of the airport are submerged right now, it would be difficult to say how quickly would that be back online. We do know that the Indian Navy has offered up the INS Garuda airbase for civilian flights, but whether the airlines will respond to that call is still not known.
Airlines are in the meanwhile scheduling flights to Trivandrum and Calicut to move as many people as possible out of this zone. Vistara has set up some special flights to Trivandrum, a station they usually don’t operate to. They have also capped fares at INR 10,000 for the Delhi – Trivandrum flights and INR 7,500 for the Chennai – Trivandrum flights.
The information from the Ministry of Civil Aviation is enclosed below too.
Updated Status on Cochin Airport: pic.twitter.com/JqUQaPrPMw
— Ministry of Civil Aviation (@MoCA_GoI) August 16, 2018
We’ll try and keep the information updated as much as possible here. In the meanwhile, if you have any information you’d like to pass along, give me a shout on Twitter or leave a comment here.
very serious condition over there. we should help them
It’s a very critical condition in Kerela. but good to know that most of the people have been rescued and people are also donating and praying for Kerela.
Is the road from Trivandrum to Kochi open? Is it affected by the floods?
I’ve planned trip to kerala with my family from 3rd to 10th September. I have my flight tickets booked. Considering the current situation, I would like to cancel my trip. But the fight companies are denying to process full refund. Kindly suggest what I should do.