Kelvia Kasala International Airport

Kelvia Kasala International Airport (IATA: KKI, ICAO: AKKI) is the main international airport serving the city of Kelvia in Arola, located in the industrial suburb of Kasala. The airport opened on 26th July 1973 to relieve congestion on the existing Kelvia Korvola Airport, but eventually replaced commercial operations at Korvola in the 1980s.

The airport is the largest and busiest airport in the whole of Arola, carrying 27.3 million passengers per day in 2019. The airport is located 79 miles from the city center of Kelvia and serves as a hub for Air Arola and its subsidiaries.

History
After Arola gained independence, air traffic started to greatly increase due to the which surfaced in the late 1950s. The mayor of Kelvia tried to resolve the problem by expanding the airport with the opening of a new terminal in the 1960s, however it became apparent that Kelvia Airport had no room for expansion.

The Arolan government stepped in and decided to allow Kelvia to build on a parcel of land located 79 miles away from the city center for industrial development and the new airport. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Kelvia Kasala International Airport was held on June 10, 1968, attended by the mayor of Kelvia and several Arolan officials.

The airport finally opened on July 26, 1973 at a cost of 21.3 million Arolan dollars, but the increasing amount of passengers handled at the airport was short lived, as the began to hit worldwide. During the crisis, the Arolan government ordered Korvola airport to be temporarily closed and all flights were moved to Kasala.

After the crisis eased, both airports were reopened, but only Kasala airport saw a surge of passengers compared to Korvola. This led the Arolan government to move all flights at Korvola to Kasala before Korvola closed on 31st December 1982.

In December 1985, the Kelvia World Airport Authority (present-day KKI Arolan Airports) took over the operations of Kasala airport from the Arolan government.

Terminal 1
Terminal 1 consists of 12 gates and mainly serves as a domestic terminal for Air Arola Shuttle flights to Uilo and Nordic countries. The facility originally opened as the main wing of KKI’s terminal in July 1973, but the facility remained in operation as a domestic terminal even after the closure of Terminal 2 (originally the “west wing”) in the late 2000s.

Terminal 3
The 50,000 hectare Terminal 3 opened on June 9, 2008, serving as the current international terminal since Terminal 2 closed down. The terminal is three times bigger than the latter and is the biggest air facility in Arola, with a total of 24 gates spanning across Terminals 3A, 3B and 3C. Most Air Arola and international flights depart and arrive at this terminal.