The Malabar Development Council has alleged that there is a political conspiracy to undermine the Kozhikode Airport at Karipur and gradually push it towards closure.
The council said in a statement here on Tuesday that from May 1 this year, airliners had stopped operating their wide-bodied aircraft from Kozhikode.
As a consequence, the annual camps from where pilgrims undertook their Haj pilgrimage had to be shifted to Nedumbassery this year. The Haj camps had been organised for the last 15 years in Kozhikode.
On Monday, Air India announced that its flight from Delhi would skip Kozhikode in view of the runway re-carpeting. This pullout was yet another sign of the uncertainty over the fate of the airport. While airport authorities had explained that re-carpeting was vital to flights operation and that the inconvenience was only temporary, the council felt that there was no clarity with regard to when the works would actually begin and end.
There was no clear assurance from the authorities concerned as to when full functioning of the airport would be restored, it alleged.
Council plans to mobilise support of the public and expatriates against the alleged move.
