Kerala - Kochi   

CIAL clears the air on landing accidents

Staff Reporter

‘Infrastructure, aviation equipment cannot be blamed’

KOCHI: The infrastructure and aviation equipment installed at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) were of international quality and were not the cause for the two landing-related accidents that occurred in the airport earlier this month, managing director of CIAL Shriram Bharath said in a press release.

An Air Sahara and Air India Express aircraft had skidded off the runway of the airport while landing on July 3 and 9 respectively.

Mr. Bharath said that the facilities at the Kochi airport complied with the standards prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations body, which lays down norms for civil aviation across the globe. It also matched the regulations set by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Mr. Bharath admitted the need for installing the Approach Surveillance Radar (ASR) at the airport, which he said would improve the quality of air traffic management. The absence of radar gets highlighted every time an accident occurred at the airport.

He said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was responsible for installing the radar and that the airport was constantly pursuing it.

Regarding allegations that the quality of the runway led to the accidents,

Mr. Bharath said that the runway was constructed under Pavement Classification Number-65 (PCN-65), a set of norms placed by the ICAO denoting the pavement strength of the runway.

He said that in both the incidents the pilots had not complained about the airport infrastructure or equipment. Instead, they have commended the strength and quality of the runway and its side strips, which helped them manoeuvre the aircraft back on to the runway. According to him, sudden downpour hampering the visibility of pilots might have caused the accidents.

Friction tests have been conducted periodically to ascertain the pavement surface performance of the runway, he said.

In the light of the incidents the AAI would hold a fresh friction test though the last test held six months ago had showed excellent results, Mr. Bharath said.

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