A team of civil aviation department officials has visited the Calicut International Airport at Karipur to assess feasibility of operating wide-bodied aircraft. The team, comprising officials from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI), was led by DGCA’s joint director J S Rawat and reviewed infrastructure at the airport for operating wide-bodied aircraft.
They held discussions with deputy collector (land qcquisition) Jayasankar Prasad and ASO (transport department) J Vijayanath regarding the status of land acquisition for the development of the airport, informed K Janardanan, airport director, in a press note.
The outcome of the inspection will be conveyed to the Civil Aviation Ministry. The visit was in response to a request by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after a meeting with the Civil Aviation Minister in Delhi, he said in the press note.
Vijayan has given directions to expedite land acquisition process for the expansion of runway of Karipur airport. The team’s visit has raised expectations on revival of services of medium and wide-bodied aircraft from the airport, which were suspended by AAI in May 2015 following a directive from the DGCA citing safety concerns.
The runway re-carpetting and strengthening work which began in 2015 were completed in December last year.
