Kerala,Dec.09: Union Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan jointly inaugurated an international airport at Kannur on Sunday.
The first flight to Abu Dhabi was flagged off from the Kannur International Airport which commenced operations on Sunday.
The Air India Express flight took off to Abu Dhabi at 10 am.
All the passengers on the first flight received gifts from the airport authorities.
With this, Kerala get the fourth international airport. The other international airports are in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, news agencies reported.
International flights will fly to the UAE, Oman and Qatar from this airport on regular basis. Officials said this airport will handle more than 1.5 million international passengers annually.
A good chunk of people in the South Indian state work in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Prasanta Patnaik