THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Several flights, mainly domestic, operating from Thiruvananthapuram airport will be rescheduled and some will be cancelled as the airport will be closed during the daytime for three months from January as part of the runway re-carpeting work. Airport director George G Tharakan said that the runway would be closed from 10.30 a.m. to 5.15 p.m. from January 2 to March 31 as 1.8 kilometre in the middle of the runway needs recarpetting. This measure will affect domestic services mainly as almost all international services are being operated between the evening and early morning hours.
About 15 domestic services are being operated from Thiruvananthapuram between 10.30 a.m. and 5.15 p.m. The airlines are in the process of rescheduling the flights. Some flights would have to be cancelled even. The re-carpeting of the 3.3 metre runway that began in February this year was scheduled to be completed by this month. However, the work got delayed mainly due to public protests over pollution concerns against the re-carpeting work. Unexpected rains also delayed the work. The re-carpeting work is being done after a gap of 11 years. The cost of re-carpeting is about Rs 56 crore. An Ahmedabad-based firm is carrying out the work.
