The Cochin International Airport resumed operations at 2 pm on Wednesday after remaining shut for 15 days due to heavy floods in Kerala, which killed at least 322 people in August. An IndiGo flight from Ahmedabad to Kochi landed at the runway and taxied to the gate around 2.15 pm, The Indian Express reported.
Private carrier Jet Airways has also said it will resume services immediately, PTI reported. Jet Airways tweeted on Tuesday that its first flight will take off from Mumbai at 1.40 pm on Wednesday and land in Kochi at 3.50 pm.
As many as 33 flights are scheduled to arrive and 30 scheduled to depart from the airport on Wednesday.
Airport authorities at Kochi had first announced that it will be shut till August 18. This was extended to August 26 and then August 29 as the runway, the terminals and the large solar farm remained flooded. Flights bound for Kochi instead landed at Thiruvanathapuram, Kozhikode, or Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
However, on August 20, commercial flights began operations at the Naval air station in Kochi, after the National Crisis Management Committee ordered the stop gap measure until operations at the civilian airport resume.
National carrier Air India said on August 22 it would not charge passengers for ticket cancellations and travel itinerary changes for flights travelling to and from the state till August 31. The waiver will be offered to both domestic and international flight tickets issued on or before August 17. IndiGo also announced it would waive cancellation fees for tickets booked before August 20 for travel scheduled till August 31.
On Wednesday, Jet Airways extended its cancellation waiver for passengers holding confirmed tickets till August 29.
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