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Starting from Friday, no wide-bodied aircraft will operate from Kozhikode airport, the fourth busiest international airport in the country, because of a long partial shutdown for repairs.
This will necessitate the diversion of large aircraft of Air India, Saudi Airlines and Emirates, which handle most of the international traffic at Kozhikode, to nearby airports. About 90 per cent of the traffic at Kozhikode is international, mostly on the Gulf sector. Some of the flights would be diverted to Kochi.
However, the actual work on strengthening and re-carpeting the runway at Kozhikode will begin only on September 1 when the monsoon fury subsides.
An airport official told BusinessLine that during July-August there would be a two-hour restriction daily on the arrival and departure of even smaller aircraft because of some preparatory work on the runway.
The repair would take 15 months from September. For the first eight months, no wide-bodied aircraft would be allowed in. During the next six months after this, aircraft would be allowed for a restricted period of time each day. A review of the situation would be made six months after the start of work to see if larger aircraft could be allowed for a few hours daily.
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