As a native of Kannur district in north Kerala, I have been anticipating the opening of Kannur’s first international airport for a while now. It was a long time coming (as is the case of every large infrastructure project in India).
Kannur airport’s inauguration was held on December 9 and I decided to fly home from Bengaluru just to experience my “first flight home”. Currently, only Go Air has started flight operations from Bangalore airport (airport code: BLR) to Kannur airport (CNN). IndiGo launches their flights from Bangalore to Kannur on 25 January, 2019. SpiceJet has announced they intend to fly to Kannur but as of this writing, no date has been announced for commencement of services.
Since trains were all full due to year-end holidays, I checked for flights and got an airfare for Rs. 2154, which included a Rs. 200 fee that I paid to pick a window seat of my choice. (Window seat is a must for me on daytime flights)
I wanted to see just how much it would cost to fly solo from Bangalore to Kannur (all inclusive) so I told my dad not to come pick me up from Kannur airport in our car. Of course, the problem with Bengaluru is that the city’s airport (Kempegowda International Airport handles both domestic and international flights) is located so far from the city — making the taxi ride to the airport an expense by itself. Not to mention how long it takes. I had to leave home by 5am and since I couldn’t grab the airport bus at this time, I just hailed an Uber. Opting for Uber Pool, there was only one other passenger, and so the ride cost me Rs. 465 and took 40 minutes from where I am currently staying.
This is the first time I was catching a domestic flight from this airport. Didn’t know it gets this busy so early in the morning.
I checked in online and printed my boarding pass from home. I also did not have any luggage to check-in as I was only carrying my laptop bag. So I walked straight to the security check.
Seeing how long the queues were, I now know why they are expanding Bengaluru airport
With security done, I just checked out the shops and explored the domestic wing of the terminal
It was nice seeing my hometown on the flights display. G8 623 is the flight from BLR to CNN. G8 622 departs Kannur at 6:10 am and arrives at BLR at 7:10 am.
My boarding gate was no. 12, so I just sat by the gate and did some work on my laptop until it was boarding time
My flight was on time and boarding was swift
The plane was an Airbus A320neo
And the ads on the seats are a reminder that you are flying a budget airline That’s all the “in-flight” entertainment you are going to get
The morning glow was in the air
Here we go!
See you in 2019 Bengaluru!
That’s the road leading up to the airport
I’d like to think it was cloudy because of winter morning — and this isn’t caused by pollution :/
I hoped to see nice greenery flying over the Western Ghats… but the sun being what it was at this time, much of the view was blinded by a golden haze
(If you want to know what it was like)
Even the hills were covered with clouds
Within 40 minutes of taking off, we were descending
The views started to clear up a little bit
As the plane turned, you could see the Arabian sea in the distance
Kannur airport was built by flattening a hill like this
It was time to land!
We arrived early, even though the scheduled arrival time is 8:45am.
There was only one other flight, an Air India Express, parked at the airport
To get to the domestic baggage area, you have to go down three levels… which I thought was kinda weird
Of course, this is now, with only a handful of flights a day. The flow of passenger traffic may change as the airport gets busier.
I love the use of art like this in the airport
Even the toilet gender markings have a quintessentially Keralite take! The woman is wearing a traditional Kerala saree and the man is wearing a mundu. (This is unless you can’t figure it out)
And finally you reach the luggage area + exit
I ‘inaugurated’ the toilet before walking out of the terminal
I don’t know what that machine is but if you are wondering where that bridge leads to, the departures sections for both international and domestic are up above
I had no luggage to collect so I was just going to take some photos before leaving
Thank you for your service security doggo! Enjoy the cool floor.
Let’s just hope the airport remains this shiny in the coming years (The interiors of Kannur International Airport were designed by Bangalore-based KGD)
This artwork is showcasing the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu, which originated from Kerala back in the 3rd century BCE
The airport appeared bigger in the photos I had seen but I think it’s before they added the glass barricades that separate the domestic and international sections
I’m happy they kept this logo
You can avail prepaid taxi services hereAs I stepped outside and saw no autos or buses, I wondered how I would get to Mattanur bus stationThis is the international arrivals sectionI wanted to take some more photos of the exteriorI walked towards the parking lot to get a wider shot of the airportThere’s still some on-going work and they are already thinking about runway expansionThat upper bridge does extend a long wayI walked a bit up the road until I was picked by one of these. Women were employed to ride these electric bike taxis to drop passengers off until the gate. Their charge is Rs. 20.From that gate, we would eventually get an autorickshaw quickly that took us to Mattanur bus stand
The auto driver charged each passenger Rs. 10. Once at the bus depot, I got a seat inside a bus going to Kannur very quickly (that cost around Rs. 26). So in total, it cost me around Rs. 2600 ($37) and 5.5 hours (actual flight time is just under an hour) to get my home in Kannur city since leaving my home in Bangalore.
Is flying from Bengaluru to Kannur worth it? Well, it makes you less tired, that’s all. Considering I hate overnight bus journeys (even though the journey only takes 6-7 hours), and train tickets are hard to come by, it’s good that flying via budget airlines is an option now. Mind you, a sleeper ticket in a train is still the cheapest way to get from Bangalore to Kannur. At around Rs. 370 ($5.2), there’s no beating travelling by train overnight. It’s just that it takes 12 hours since there is no easier route through the Western Ghats for train travel. Now, if it’s a requirement that you have a car while in Kannur (there is no Uber or Ola in Kannur just yet) — and you are more than one person travelling — driving down from Bangalore makes more sense. If a family of four spends Rs. 2k each on a flight, then you only need to spend half of that total (or even less) for fuel to drive down.
But as more airlines start their service and competition between airlines becomes the norm, expect airfares to be lower. Whatever it is, it’s nice that flying is now an option from Kannur. Now if only KSRTC would introduce a nice bus service to & from Kannur airport that operates at regular intervals.
