The oft-repeated statements by the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), that, first, ‘safety is paramount’ and, second, ‘India has one of the fastest growing aviation sectors’, are ones that are at complete variance with each other when there are two very serious safety issues staring at aviation in India.
In June 2023, the Minister had written to the Kerala government implying that the safety of passengers was being gravely compromised due to the non-provision of the Runway End Safety Area at Kozhikode’s Karipur airport. The provision of this safety feature was explicitly recommended by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) after its investigation and recommendations following an air crash at the airport on August 7, 2020. The Minister said that the Ministry would be “left with no choice but to proceed with the necessary action of curtailing the runway length for safe aircraft operations at Calicut airport from 01.08.2023 unless the land is handed over to the AAI [Airports Authority of India] immediately”.
We are now in April 2024 and just a couple of weeks and months away from the southwest monsoon, and, later, the northeast monsoon. Yet, no land has been made available and flights continue at the airport without restrictions.
