The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday banned the operation of wide-body aircraft at the Karipur International Airport in Kerala’s Kozhikode city. The decision by the aviation watchdog comes four days after a narrow-body B737 aircraft of Air India Express with 190 people on board overshot the airport’s runway, killing at least 18 people and injuring over 100 others.
The DGCA has taken the step to prevent any more mishaps but the regulator is unsure about the duration of the ban. The aviation regulator said it will conduct a special audit of airports that receive heavy rains. Wide-body aircraft have a bigger fuel tank and a need a longer runway to take off and land. The length of Kozhikode airport’s table top runway is about 2,700 metres. Wide-body aircraft were allowed to operated from the airport in 2019.
The DGCA is conducting a special special audit for about 12 airports in metro cities and areas prone to heavy rainfall to look into factors such as runway friction and navigation. The audit includes airports like Mumbai and Chennai that are affected by heavy rains annually.