Kochi's airport began as an airstrip on Willingdon Island, built in 1936 by the Kingdom of Kochi, intended for transporting officials involved in the development of the Cochin Port. The Kingdom of Kochi allowed the Britishers, who were still occupying India, to convert the airstrip into a military airport by the Indian Navy during World War II. The Royal Navy chose it as a strategic site for their headquarters in Southern India and as an air station cum landing craft and seaplane base.[13] The military facility hosted naval fighter planes and was intended to thwart possible Japanese air raids.[14] A small naval unit set up operations just two days before the outbreak of World War II.

After India achieved dominion status, and the merger of the Kingdom of Kochi with India, the Indian Navy operated the airport, though it permitted civilian aircraft to use the facility. The Gulf economic boom of the 1980s made it necessary to develop international connections to Kochi in the interests of expatriates working in the Middle East.

свернуть