The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has reportedly directed Calicut airport authorities to speed up the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) work for which the runway is being partially closed during the afternoon hours everyday.
Sources said the AAI was not happy with the six-month-long partial closure and had told airport authorities that the runway cannot be closed for more than six months though the works affected only three flights including an international flight. Six firms have been entrusted with the work that involves major electrical installations and laying of cables.
To facilitate the expansion of RESA, the runway was partially closed, from Monday, in two phases. Now, it is closed from noon to 2.30 p.m. and from 3.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. till March 24, and in the second phase, from noon to 8 p.m. from March 25 to June 30.
RESA is being expanded to 240 metres on the instructions of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). At present, it is just 90 metres at both ends. The DGCA had earlier instructed the Calicut airport via the AAI to reconstruct the RESA for more than three years.
This was after the Court of Inquiry report on the Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in Mangalore in May 2010 that claimed 158 lives.
Following the RESA work at the Calicut airport, the length of the tabletop runway will be reduced from 2,850 metres to 2,700 metres. The AAI had already sanctioned ₹6 crore for the work, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Haj Committee has stepped up efforts to change the embarkation point from Nedumbassery airport to Calicut airport with the Haj season beginning in July. If the airport could enable the operation of widebodied aircraft like Boeing 777-200 after the completion of RESA work, obviously Haj flights could operate from Calicut airport, Thodiyoor Muhammed Kunju Moulavi, chairman, Kerala State Haj Committee, said.
“Now, we are in confusion over the Haj camp after Nedumbassery airport authorities leased the two hangars, which had previously been allotted for the Haj camp, to private airline companies. We are pinning hopes on two petitions coming up before the Supreme Court on January 30,” he said.
