• Home
• /
• World

NRKs join protest over delay in Karipur airport repair works

Trivandrum - Various business and socio-cultural organisations and non-resident Keralite forums have launched an indefinite protest in Calicut city against the alleged conspiracy.

The delay in beginning the work on the renovation of the runway of the Karipur airport in north Kerala and the reported refusal by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to permit airlines to operate lighter aircrafts in the wake of the partial closure of the airport for wide-bodied aircrafts in May have fuelled fears that a lobby is working against the airport.
Various business and socio-cultural organisations and non-resident Keralite forums have launched an indefinite protest in Calicut city against the alleged conspiracy. The organisers of the stir say that the lobbies had hatched the conspiracy against the airport in connivance with the Airports Authority of India to benefit the first private sector airport at Cochin and another coming up in nearby Kannur.
The cancellation of the Air India flight to New Delhi last month and the subsequent clarification by the AAI that wide-bodied aircrafts like Boeings would not land in the airport, which is the 12th busiest airport in India, even after renovation of the runway are viewed by the activists as signs of the conspiracy.
Several operators, including Emirates and Saudi airlines that cancelled operation of their wide-bodied aircrafts to the airport in May had sought permission of the DGCA to operate A330-200 category flights in their place. However, the DGCA has kept aside their applications without citing any reason. Karipur airport director K Janardhanan said that the aircrafts proposed for operation by Emirates and other airlines were Code E aircraft.
He told the Khaleej Times that the DGCA had found the airport unsafe for operation of such aircraft. Various agencies have contested this stand. Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry has pointed out that Code E aircraft such as A330-200 are allowed to operate at various airports across the world during such runway renovation.

• India