The chances of wide-bodied aircraft operating from the Calicut International Airport, which until May 2015 had been one the 10 busiest international airports in the country, appear slim even as the airport is getting ready to resume full-scale operations of mid-sized aircraft on March 1.
Land acquisition
Officials point out that the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are willing to expand the runway at Calicut Airport to facilitate the resumption of operation of wide-bodied aircraft if the State government acquires the land required for the project. But given the hurdles and costs, acquisition of a large stretch of land in the area is a tough challenge.
The AAI suspended the operation of wide-bodied aircraft since May 1, 2015 following a directive from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on grounds of flight safety. The operation of Boeing B-747 and B-777, Airbus A-330, and other wide-bodied aircraft under Code E has since been discontinued.
“In fact, the decision to disallow the operation of Code E was taken in 2013 in the wake of the Court of Inquiry (CoI) report on the Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in Mangalore in May 2010 that claimed 158 lives,” says Calicut Airport director K . Janardanan. “But the decision could be implemented only in 2015,” he adds.
Tabletop runway
The CoI had found that the direct cause of the accident was Capt. Zlatko Glusica’s failure to discontinue the “un-stabilised approach and his persistence in continuing with the landing”.
However, the report had also mentioned the security lapse at the Mangalore airport, which has a tabletop runway. The aircraft had overshot the runway and plunged into a gorge.
The Calicut Airport is also situated on a hillock with a tabletop runway.
The operation of wide-bodied aircraft not only posed a huge risk, but also damaged its runway. “After Air India got an exemption for operating Haj flights in 2008, the official carrier began to operate wide-bodied aircraft. Soon afterwards Saudia (Saudi Arabian Airlines) and Emirates followed suit, throwing caution to the wind, ” says Mr. Janardanan.
The runway with Takeoff Run Available (TORA) and Landing Distance Available (LDA) at the airport is 9,383 feet.
Only an extension of the runway by at least 10,500 ft will facilitate large aircraft to operate from the airport.
Meanwhile, work on runway strengthening and resurfacing, which began in September 2015, is progressing at the airport. “The airport will resume round-the-clock operations from March 1. The AAI and DGCA officials will review the works in February,” said Mr. Janardanan.
