Sabarimala connectivity: Kottayam greenfield airport likely to get ‘in-principle’ approval soon

A aerial view of the Cheruvally estate where the State government has proposed to establish the Sabarimala Greenfield airport.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Centre is considering granting an ‘in-principle’ clearance for the construction of a greenfield airport located at Kottayam, Kerala, sources told businessline.

The greenfield airport is aimed at serving millions of pilgrims to the major pilgrimage site of Sabarimala.

The project is spread over 2,000 acres at Cheruvally Estate near Erumeli, sources said.

“It has already received site and defence clearance from the Centre, as well as ‘Terms of Reference’ approval for its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),” sources said.

“The Kerala government recently submitted the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).”

According to the DPR, the project will feature a 3,000-metre runway capable of handling large international aircraft such as Boeing 777s, a passenger terminal with a capacity of seven million annually, and a cargo facility.

Sources said the projects has reached the second stage of the Centre’s Greenfield Airports (GFA) policy for getting ‘in-principle’ approval to start land acquisition for construction and other activities.

“MoCA along with other agencies such as IMD, as well as associated ministries such as Home and Defence, are deliberating on granting ‘In-Principle’ approval to the project,” sources said, adding, “We are hopeful that ‘in-principle’ approval for this projects will be granted soon.”

However, the journey to this stage hasn’t been easy, as an earlier plan for an airport on the same site was put on hold after the Kerala government had to withdraw land acquisition notices. At that time, a High Court order had flagged issues like using a non-independent agency for the social impact study and unclear land ownership records.

These legal and procedural hurdles delayed the project for a long time, but now sources said that these issues have been resolved with new documents and a detailed project report.

In the last couple of years, MoCA has given ‘site clearance’ to several airport projects.

Notably, GFA prescribes a two-stage approval process that includes ‘site clearance’ followed by ‘in-principle’ nod.

At present, State governments propose locations for constructing greenfield airports, which are then inspected by various government bodies, including the Airport Authority of India (AAI), to determine the technical feasibility of the project.

Implementation of airport projects, including funding, rests with the concerned airport developer, including the State government.

The second stage involves project evaluation upon considering the DPR, including a techno-economic feasibility study of the project.

Published on August 22, 2025