Wide-body aircraft lands in Calicut Airport after 3 years
Wide-body flight operations resumed at the Calicut International Airport in Kerala after a gap of three years, with Saudia Airlines from Jeddah landing at the airport. Airbus 330-300 of the Saudia Airlines landed in Karipur 11.10 am on Wednesday, 5th December 2018.
The airport was partially closed on May 1, 2015, after the Airport Authority of India (AAI) banned operation of wide-bodied aircrafts including Boeing 777 and B747-400 and Airbus 330 for the runway re-carpeting, to ensure safety of passengers.
A convoy of Kerala MPs have visited the Union Aviation Minister several times to seek permission for making the airport fully functional.
Revamping works of the runways to facilitate operation of the wide body aircrafts have been completed recently and a high power committee from the union ministry have visited the airport on Monday to inspect the completed works, prior to granting the permission. Officers from the Mumbai office of Air India were in the inspection team.
Calicut airport has been one of the main embarkation points for Hujj pilgrims every year. Reinstating the functioning of the airport will expected to ease the rush during the pilgrim season. It will also revitalize the economy of Malabar region, which has been grim due to ban of wide body aircrafts.
Meanwhile, Calicut Intl Airport completed 30 years of service on 13th April 2018. The first commercial flight began on 13th April 1988. It handles 32 lakh passengers annually and earned Rs. 200 crores revenue in year 2017-18. The airport has been serving the Malabar region with its best capabilities.
