Should a small state like Kerala, which already has three international airports, have a fourth one?

Captain Krishnan Nair, hotel business magnate and chairman of the Leela Group, certainly thinks so.

Nair has put in a proposal before the Kerala government to develop an international airport at Kannur, his birthplace.

Officials said that the Kannur airport project, a long-cherished dream of Nair, might get a new lease of life as the A K Antony government has decided to ink a memorandum of understanding with the Leela Group.

The MoU for a Rs 3.5 million airport at Kannur is likely to be signed during the Global Investors' Meet that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will inaugurate in Kochi on January 18.

The idea of an airport in Kannur is not new. Several prominent politicians, including former Kerala chief minister E K Nayanar and business barons from north Kerala (especially those doing business in the Gulf countries), have been campaigning for the development of Kannur airport for many years now.

Four years ago, the Kerala government began acquiring land for the airport at Moorkamparambu, some 20 kilometers from Kannur.

While already some 300 acres of land has been acquired, the state government is in a dilemma over whether it should acquire 1,200 acres more.

Although the Kerala government had put in a proposal for the Kannur airport project four years back, it got stuck with the civil aviation ministry at the Centre.

In fact, the ministry shot down the proposal saying that a new airport could not come up within a distance of 150 kilometres.

The existing Kozhikode international airport is only 120 km from the proposed Kannur airport.

There has been stiff opposition from business and political lobbies in Mangalore and Kozhikode against the proposed Kannur airport.

Kerala's Forest Minister K Sudharakan, one of the ardent campaigners for the Kannur airport, says the rule regarding distance between airports does not make any sense.

"A large number of people from Kannur and its adjoining areas, like Kasargod, are working abroad or in other Indian cities. For them, an airport in Kannur is a necessity," Sudharakan, who now heads the Kannur Airport Action Committee, told rediff.com.

He said many international companies including the Leela Group and the Singapore government have evinced keen interest in developing the airport.

"We want to showcase the Kannur airport as one of our big projects during the Global Investors' Meet," the minister pointed out.

To overcome the hurdles, the Antony government recently put in a request with the civil aviation ministry seeking an exemption from the rule that two airports cannot exist within a radius of 150 kilometers.

Official sources said Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain and Air-India managing director and civil aviation secretary Roy Paul have agreed to waive off the distance rule.

The Leela Group seems to have a head start in negotiating for the project with the state government. Officials said Captain Nair, his son and vice chairman Vivek Krishnan Nair and other top executives of the Leela Group will be in Kerala during the Global Investors' Meet with a detailed project to develop the Kannur airport.

As per the present plan, the Leela Group will be the chief promoter of the airport. But a new company that the group is floating for the airport will seek participation from international airport developers to make the Kannur airport a reality.