Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The repair and re-carpeting works at the Calicut (Kozhikode) International Airport runway are progressing well and wide-bodied aircraft would resume service once the work finishes by March 2017, according to a senior Indian politician. E.T. Muhammad Basheer, member of parliament and national secretary of Indian Union Muslim League, said that the strengthening and re-carpeting of the runway is being carried out under the close supervision of aviation experts since September 2015 and the aviation authorities have assured that it will be completed within the stipulated period of 18 months. He made the remarks while addressing a press conference in Jeddah on Friday. Around two million Gulf expatriates from the northern Malabar region of Kerala use Calicut airport, which is the seventh busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic and is often touted as the gateway to Malabar. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which operates the airport, is undertaking a Rs.1 billion overhaul of the extensively damaged tabletop runway. The partial shutdown of the airport that coincided with the last summer school vacation in the six Gulf states, in addition to the peak Umrah and Haj seasons as well as the Eid and Onam festivals have affected hundreds of thousands of expatriates and their families. They were forced to rely on connection flights after suspension of direct services of Jumbo flights between Calicut and international destinations. The strengthening of the turning pad of the runway had been completed in November and the first phase of the renovation of the 2,850m runway would be completed next month, according to the aviation sources. Basheer said that all wide-bodied flights would resume full service to the airport once the re-carpeting work is over. The airport was closed for big-bodied aircraft from May 1 last year, forcing Air India, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Emirates to divert their jumbo flights to Cochin International Airport, 155km away. "We are making serious efforts to restore the embarkation point for pilgrims from Calicut for the next Haj. I discussed this matter with Attaur Rahman, CEO of the Haj committee and his response was favorable," said Basheer, who has recently been re-named as a member of the Indian Haj Committee. Calicut had been the embarkation point for Haj pilgrims from the state for the past several years and it was shifted to Cochin last year due to the partial closedown. Basheer said that efforts are under way for the acquisition of land for expanding the runway and doubling the passenger handling capacity. He admitted that the acquisition process is at a snail's pace and there are some potential hurdles in acquiring land as several local fringe groups and residents were resisting it. The press conference was also attended by K.P. Mohammedkutty, president of the Saudi national committee of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Center, Ashraf Vengat, general secretary of the national committee, A.P. Ibrahim Muhammad, K.V.A. Ghafour, Abubaker Arimbra and C.K. Shakir.
