DGCA nod for wide-bodied aircraft at Calicut, Haj flights likely
New Delhi, Aug 9 : Aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday granted permission to operate wide-bodied aircraft at Calicut airport that will see Saudi Arabian airlines operate direct flights to the Kingdom from the city in Kerala, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
The operation of international flights from Calicut would also likely lead to its becoming an embarkation point from Haj pilgrims, Prabhu told reporters here at a briefing. He was accompanied by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam.
"The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has today decided to start operations from Calicut, which will facilitate a large number of people from Kerala who are living abroad," Prabhu said.
Sinha said that the Saudi Arabian national carrier plans to fly aircraft like A330 and Boeing 777 to Calicut and technical clearance had been given for these wide-bodied planes.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had suspended wide-bodied aircraft operations at Calicut airport in May 2015 following a directive from the DGCA, citing safety concerns.
"Safety and passenger convenience are our primary concern and we have to ensure that these are not compromised," Prabhu said.
"AAI has informed us that all mitigation measures (to enable wide-bodied flights) will be in place by August 20," he said.
Ministry officials said the Saudi Airlines had not intimated a date for starting operations from Calicut.
Work is underway to construct a new international terminal at Calicut which will increase its current passenger handling capacity of 3.5 million people per annum to 5 million when completed, officials said.
"Calicut is likely to be an embarkation point for the Haj pilgrimage from next year," Sinha said.
It was also announced that Kerala's fourth international airport at Kannur will start commercial flight operations in October.
"It is rare that a new greenfleld airport like Kannur starts with operating international flights," Prabhu said.
Kerala will also soon start twin-engine sea-plane operations following the DGCA's issuing of the regulatory framework for such aircraft and the waterdrome certification, the Minister announced.
"Operators can now apply for the licence to ply sea-planes on specified routes. Other possible destinations for such services can be island areas like Lakshadweep and Andamans," Sinha said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
