The Calicut International Airport is set to undergo a large-scale development involving ₹800 crore in the wake of runway expansion and construction of an additional length of the runway end safety area (RESA) at both ends of the runway.
The State government has handed over 12.48 acres of land to the airport after acquiring it from 76 landholders in Pallikkal and Nediyiruppu villages.
An extended RESA is expected to bring in wide-body flights and thus further the overall development of the airport. At present, the RESA at both ends is only 90 metres long. The proposal is to lengthen the RESA to 240 metres by constructing embankments at both ends of the table-top runway.
Calicut Airport director S. Suresh pointed out that the expansion of the RESA would help the airport resume operation of wide-body aircraft but with a restricted payload. “Only with an extended runway of over 3,000 metres wide-body aircraft can operate at their full capacity,” he said.
Mr. Suresh also said that a ₹15 crore project to modify the terminal, including more counters for immigration, would also be implemented. “Besides, there will be an exclusive gate for DijiYatra for digital processing of passengers at airports,” he added.
DIJI Yatra will allow passengers to automatically get their documents processed based on the facial recognition system at checkpoints such as entry point check, entry into security check, and aircraft boarding. Also this will facilitate self-bag drop and check-in, using facial recognition to identify passengers and recall data. Digi Yatra will facilitate paperless travel and avoid identity checks at multiple points.
Meanwhile, officials are worried about the availability of soil, especially as nature lovers are protesting against mining at several places. The embankment construction will involve major landfilling.
The runway will have to be extended to 4,000 metres with the completion of the current RESA expansion project.
Expansion of the RESA at the Calicut Airport has been a crying need, especially after the tragic crash of Air India Express flight 1344 on August 7, 2020. As many as 21 people, including the two pilots, were killed and 167 others wounded when the flight from Dubai overshot the runway touchdown point while landing and plunged into a depth of 30 metres after wading through the 90-metre long RESA.
An investigation into the tragedy found that if the airport had a longer RESA, the tragedy could have been averted. The RESA is now proposed to be expanded to 240 metres.
The AAI experimented by shortening the runway to expand the RESA a couple of years ago, forcing wide-body aircraft to stop operations from the Calicut airport. Expansion of the RESA is a must for resumption of larger aircraft operations from the airport.
