Kochi, Jun 29 (IANS): Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has registered a net profit of Rs 166.92 crore out of a turnover of Rs 650.34 crore during financial year 2018-19, up from Rs 553.41 crores in the previous fiscal, it was announced on Saturday.

The board of Directors, which met here on Saturday with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the chair, noted that despite the closure of the airport for 15 days due to the devastating floods in August last year, the company registered a 17.52 per cent increase in its turnover.

CIAL, the first airport under the PPP model in airport infrastructure development, has 18,000 investors from 30 countries and was incorporated in 1994. The airport was inaugurated in 1999.

The company has been paying dividend consistently from 2003-04 and with the last fiscal, the total dividend pay-out touched 228 per cent.

The Kerala government has a share of 32.41 per cent in the company.

The board has proposed a dividend of 27 per cent which will now have to be ratified at the Annual General Meeting to be held at Ernakulam on September 28.

Cochin International Airport presently stands at fourth place in the country in terms of international traffic and seventh in total traffic.

It became the world's first airport fully powered by solar energy in 2015, with a total installed capacity of 40 MWp and the solar plants generating 1.62 lakh units of power a day against the consumption of 1.52 lakh units.