Karipur airport pins hopes on DGCA visit
Prior to the expert panel's visit, another DGCA team would inspect the terminal on Monday.
MALAPPURAM: The visit of the expert team from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), New Delhi, to the Calicut International Airport in Karipur, scheduled for Wednesday, has revived hopes of reinstating the operation of the wide-bodied aircraft at the airport. The DGCA team led by joint director A.S. Rawat and deputy director J.P. Alex along with top officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI) would review the renovated facilities at the airport to decide on the feasibility of restarting large flights.
Prior to the expert panel’s visit, another DGCA team would inspect the terminal on Monday. The outcome of the visit, which comes after protests of several NRK organisations of Malabar region and state government’s intervention, is expected to be positive this time. “There are positive factors which would favour the airport with the re-strengthened capacity and other facilities,” says K. Janardhanan, the airport director. The partially closed runway had opened for full-scale operations earlier this month after the AAI suspended the operation of code E aircraft in May 2015, following a directive for the DGCA.