AAI gets green clearance for Calicut runway fix

The Kerala government has granted environmental clearance for runway correction work at Calicut airport necessitated after a probe into the 2020 Air India Express air crash that killed 21, the Centre informed Parliament. The expansion work is expected to be concluded by December 2025.

The environmental clearance was awarded on July 11,2024, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, informed the Rajya Sabha in response to a question from CPM MP John Brittas.

The Airports Authority of India will build a runway end safety area (RESA) of 240 m at both ends.

As a special measure, the AAI has offered to bear the cost of filling and leveling land and has received a sanction of ₹ 484.57 crore, the Minister added.

The RESA extension was recommended by a committee of aviation experts constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to oversee the implementation of suggestions made in the probe report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau after the air crash on August 7, 2020. The extension works will allow widebody planes to resume operations, which were banned following the crash.

Though the Air India Express plane involved in the 2020 crash was a narrowbody Boeing 737 aircraft, the safety regulator would grant special permission for widebody aircraft during Hajj season, which was also withdrawn after the mishap.