New Delhi: Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has temporarily barred wide-body aircraft operations from Calicut airport, four days after an Air India Express flight from Dubai carrying 190 people skidded off a wet runway killing at least 18 people. Before the Kozhikode plane crash, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Air India were operating wide-bodied aircraft at the Calicut airport.
Saudi Airbus 330, which was scheduled to fly down at Calicut airport on Sunday, was diverted to the Kochi airport.
The operations of wide-bodied aircraft were banned in Kozhikode Airport from May 2015 following the court of enquiry report on the Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in Mangaluru in May 2010. The wide-bodied aircraft service resumed at the airport in 2018 after safety clearance by DGCA.
A senior official said that the decision to bar the operation of wide-body aircraft at Kozhikode airport this monsoon was taken "out of abundant caution" and the DGCA will conduct a special audit of airports that receive heavy rains.
As per the sources, DGCA has started an audit of 10 out of 12 airports in heavy rain areas like Mumbai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram.
"DGCA will not audit the Calicut airport, as that is being examined as part of the Air India Express crash-landing probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB)," said sources.
The Air India Express flight carrying 191 passengers on board skidded off the runway in rain and broke apart while landing at Kozhikode on August 7 claiming 18 lives including the two pilots.
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