M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, has urged the Centre to restore the embarkation point for Haj pilgrims in the State to Calicut International Airport once the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) works are over.
The Haj embarkation point in the State had been shifted to Kochi airport after the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) banned the operation of wide-bodied aircraft citing the unsafe characteristics of the tabletop runway.
Raising the issue in Parliament, Mr. Raghavan said that Calicut airport had been the embarkation point for Haj pilgrims from Kerala and Lakshadweep till 2014. However, the Centre temporarily shifted the embarkation point to Kochi when the airport was partially closed from June 1, 2015 to March 1, 2017 to strengthen the runway. Now, the AAI has informed the Ministry of Civil Aviation that the airport was capable of operating wide-bodied aircraft such as Boeing 777-200, Airbus 330-300, Boeing 777-200 Extended Range, Longer Range, and Boeing 787-8, Mr. Raghavan added.
He said that about 80% of the Haj pilgrims were from Malabar. Crores of rupees had been spent on constructing a Haj house for accommodating around 3,000 pilgrims at the Calicut airport. However, Kochi airport did not have such permanent facilities.
Raghavan also argued that the Centre had okayed Mangaluru airport as one of the 21 embarkation points in the country. This was when that airport had a tabletop runway apart from being smaller than Calicut airport. Besides, the Air India Express Boeing 737 had crashed in Mangaluru in May 2010, he said.
