This story is from September 12, 2016

Karipur airport runway repair work to resume on Sept 20

The runway strengthening and resurfacing works at the Karipur Airport which was halted in June due to the monsoon will resume on September 20.
Karipur airport runway repair work to resume on Sept 20
<p>Representative image<br></p>
KOZHIKODE: The runway strengthening and resurfacing works at the Karipur Airport which was halted in June due to the monsoon will resume on September 20.
The Malabar region had been experiencing air connectivity issues to the Gulf due to the current eight- hour closure of the airport for carrying out the runway strengthening works which began in September 2015.
Airport Director, K Janardhanan said that the laying of the fourth and final layer of the runway would commence on September 20 and the entire work is expected to be complete before the scheduled completion date in February 2017.

"As much as 68 percent of the runway work is now complete. The re-carpeting works had to be stopped because of the rains and we hope to complete the entire works before February 2017," he said.
As per the AAI work schedule, the runway works were to be implemented in two phases with the first phase originally scheduled to complete by April 30, 2016 and the second phase works- including strengthening and resurfacing of the entire length of the runway, setting up of drainage system, laying of electrical cable etc- to be completed by February 28, 2017.
However AAI sources said that the recommencement of operation of wide- bodied flights from the airport which was stopped from May 1, 2015 onwards will still be uncertain even after the completion of the runway strengthening.

The DGCA has suspended operations of wide- bodied aircrafts (Code- E) from the airport citing runway safety concerns and pointing out that the airport which has a runway length of 2850 metre is designed for operation of only narrow bodied (Code- D) aircrafts. The AAI have been proposing that the runway be expanded to 3627 metres.
The union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had told the delegaton of MP's from Malabar last month that resumption of operation of wide- bodied aircrafts from Karipur airport can be permitted only after expansion of the airport runway.
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