Kozhikode: The Airports Authority of India has emphasized that the Calicut International Airport at Karipur in Malappruam district will not be opened for widebodied aircraft if the runway was not extended to 12,500 feet as insisted earlier.
A letter by AAI to the Malabar Development Council dated September 29, has said that “the operation of Code E aircraft may be considered subject to extension of runway along with associated pavement works after acquisition of land from state government”. Recently Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself had ruled out the possibility of land acquisition for extension of the runway at Karipur in the state legislature saying “it may cost thousands of crores to the state exchequer”.
Being a tabletop airport, the take off –landing distance available in the airport is only 2850 meters with a deep valley immediately after the Runway End Safety Area (RESA). The safety area after the runway is only 90 meters X 90 meters instead of 240 meters x 90 meters, which is against the recommendations of the court of inquiry on the Air India Express accident at Mangalore airport, on the operation of a tabletop airport.
However the AAI assured that the work of strengthening and resurfacing of the runway was in progress and the scheduled date of completion was February 2017. AAI was making efforts to complete the work by December, the letter said.
