The expansion work at CIAL is going at a very rapid pace. The new international departure is a big improvement from the previous one. It is like night and day.The construction works are really massive. The total terminal area will now be 750,000 sq ft in place of the earlier 250,000 sqft. Once the domestic side is also expanded it will easily cross 1 million sq ft. There is plenty of room for the construction of additional terminal buildings. It has plenty of room for future growth and expansion. This is all because of V.J. Kuriens farsighteded thinking. The airport is constantly being called as Nedumaserry airport instead of Cochin airport. A change of the panchayats name from Nedumassey to Vimana Nagar will remedy that.Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) at Nedumbassery is all set to approach the Central Government seeking Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status.Shriram Bharath, the managing director of CIAL, placed such a proposal before the director board meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan, accorded an in-principle approval to such a proposal and authorised Mr. Bharath to apply to the Centre for a SEZ status to the airport and its surrounding premises.Mr. Bharath said that the proposal, if approved, would be the first airport-based SEZ in the country and would give a fillip to the various projects conceived by CIAL, especially the Information Technology (IT) and IT-Enabled Services Park and other knowledge-based projects.Besides accruing huge benefits in terms of tax exemptions, the accordance of SEZ status would attract huge investments to the various projects of the CIAL making them more cost effective. This would also enhance the revenues prospects of the airport, he said.The board was informed that the Cochin International Aviation Services Limited (CIASL), a subsidiary company formed for the implementation of the proposed Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility and Aviation Academy, has appointed Aerobiz International as the consultant for the project.Civil works for the aircraft maintenance hangars and the Academy have already been started. Mr. Bharath told the meeting that the invitation of bids to form joint ventures has evoked good response among national and international MRO and Airline Companies as well as international aviation academies.CIASL is in the process of evaluating the technical aspects of the large number of bids received from national and international players. The aim is to work out a joint venture model most favourable to the airport, he said.The director board meeting of Air Kerala International Services Limited (AKISL), another subsidiary company formed for launching the low cost airline proposed by CIAL in association with the State Government, was also held on the same day to assess the future of the ambitious project.The meeting authorised Mr. Bharath to explore the possibility of a joint venture with domestic airlines as the original proposal to launch an independent airline in the Gulf and Middle East sectors could not take off owing to the strict stipulations of the Civil Aviation Ministry.According to the existing stipulations, only an airline with at least 5 years’ experience in domestic sector operations would be allowed to fly abroad. Mr. Bharath and M.A. Yousuf Ali, a member of the director board, were asked to hold discussions with domestic airline companies on the scope for a joint venture so as to kick-start the airline project.The possibility of launching dedicated cargo services to national and international destinations from Kochi airport would also be explored during these discussions. The proposed airport city on the other hand, is expected to enable Cochin emerge as one of the largest logistics hubs in the country. It should include an international airport, SEZs, IT Parks, a health city, an international school, a captive power plant, manufacturing units and rail-road terminal.