Wide-bodied aircrafts return to Calicut International

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has announced the resumption of wide-bodied aircraft operations from Calicut International Airport by M/S. Saudia Airlines from tomorrow.

Wide bodied aircraft operations were suspended from May 2015 due to safety reasons.  Subsequently AAI has taken action for strengthening and re-carpeting of the runway and grading of runway strip to cater to the requirement of heavy aircraft operations. In order to improve safety, AAI has also taken measures to increase the runway end safety area as directed by the regulatory authorities and installed simple touch down zone flights on both runways.

Further, a compatibility study and safety assessment were conducted in accordance with the ICAO guidelines as recommended by the joint DGCA-AAI inspection team to assess suitability of the aerodrome for the safe operation of wide bodied aircraft.

Based on the compatibility study report, safety assessment and risk mitigation measures, DGCA has issued NOC for wide bodied aircraft from Calicut airport.  M/s. Saudia is commencing their services with wide bodied aircraft (A330-300/B777-200ER) to Riyadh and Jeddah. The schedule is as follows:

SV746/747: JEDDAH/CALICUT/JEDDAH
ARR-1110/DEP-1310
MON, WED, THU, SAT

SV892/893: RIYADH/CALICUT/RIYADH
ARR-1110/DEP-1310
TUE, FRI, SUN

Calicut International Airport is a profit making airport run by AAI and handles more than 3 million passengers annually, of which 2.6 million are international passengers.