Cracks on runway, water stagnation: DGCA notice to Kozhikode airport pointed out lapses in 2019

Did the Kozhikode airport authority ignore warnings about safety lapses at the facility? It has emerged that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued a show-cause notice to the airport director last year warning him about “various critical safety lapses”, news agency PTI reported.

According to the report, the aviation regulator had conducted an inspection after an Air India Express flight coming from Dammam in Saudi Arabia suffered a ‘tail strike’ while landing at the Kozhikode airport on July 2, 2019. The DGCA, in its notice dated July 11, had pointed out various issues with the runway. Cracks on the runway, water stagnation and excessive rubber deposits were among the prominent problems.

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“After the July 2 incident last year, the DGCA inspected the airport on July 4 and July 5 and found various critical safety lapses,” said a senior DGCA official.

An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot “runway 10” at the Calicut airport in heavy rain and went down 35 feet into a gorge before breaking into two pieces, killing at least 18 people.