A special team attached to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has carried out an examination to restore the operation of wide-bodied aircraft at the Calicut International Airport.
Official sources said that S. Durairaj, Deputy Director of Operations (Aerodrome Standards), Southern Region, conducted an assessment of the facilities at the airport. The operation of wide-bodied aircraft was abruptly halted after an Air India Express flight accident at the airport on August 7. The aircraft classified under Code C (medium or short range) involved in the accident killed 21 people, including both pilots and injured more than 100 passengers. The flight was part of the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals stranded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources said that the DGCA team reached Calicut airport following demands from airline companies, Airport Advisory Committee of the Calicut International Airport and and various organisations including the Malabar Development Council and Malabar Development Forum to resume the operation of wide-bodied aircraft.
Besides, Calicut Airport has been excluded from the list of Haj embarkation points in the country. It was in July this year that Saudia (Saudi Arabian airlines) resumed the operation of Haj flights. Also, this was after a gap of five years when operation of wide-bodied aircraft was banned at the Calicut airport from May 2015 in the wake of the Court of Inquiry report on the Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in Mangaluru in May 2010.
Sources said the suspension of the operation of wide-bodied aircraft would continue at the airport till a five-member team of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), probing the Air India Express crash, submits its report. The recommendations and suggestions are crucial for the restoration of wide-bodied aircraft.
Earlier, the DGCA had given No Objection Certificate (NOC) to three airlines – Air India, Saudia (Saudi Arabian Airlines) and Emirates under political pressure to operate wide-bodied aircraft.
