JEDDAH – A senior Indian politician allayed apprehensions of around two million Gulf expatriates from the northern Malabar region of Kerala about the possibility of Calicut Airport losing its international status in the wake of its partial shutdown for strengthening and re-carpeting the runway in the current peak summer season. E.T. Muhammad Basheer, member of parliament and national secretary of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said that there is no basis of reports that the partial closure of the airport for about 18 months from May 1 that coincided with the opening of another airport in the region would prove detrimental to the airport. By the time the Calicut runway work is completed, the Kannur international airport, a corporate airport, located 90 km north of Calicut, which has set a deadline for the first flight to land on Dec. 31 this year, will be fully operational. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which operates the Calicut airport, is undertaking a Rs. 1 billion overhaul of the extensively damaged tabletop runway. Calicut is the seventh busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic and is often touted as the gateway to Malabar. The partial closure of the airport coincides with the summer school vacation in all the six Gulf states, in addition to the peak Umrah and Haj seasons as well as the Eid and Onam festivals. With the beginning of the summer school vacation in all the Gulf states this week, tens of thousands of Calicut-bound expatriate families have been forced to re-route their travel to Cochin. Addressing a press conference here recently, Basheer said the Muslim League, the most influential party in the Muslim-majority Malappuram district where the airport is situated, will spare no efforts to address the concerns of expatriates with regard to the future of the airport. He also underscored the need for serious and decisive steps to realize the runway expansion after overcoming all the obstacles. Basheer said that his party is giving top priority to the expansion of the airport runway because the future of the airport with an international status relies on its expansion. “Muslim League will take the lead in removing the obstacles through making the local people aware the need to fully cooperate with the land acquisition procedures for the development of the airport. We have constituted a high level panel comprising of two members of the legislative assembly to take necessary measures for carrying out awareness campaign and complete the procedures for making available of adequate compensation for those who will be evacuated prior to the airport expansion,” he said, adding, that the airport authorities will soon implement a project worth Rs. 700 million to build a new arrival terminal. Basheer said the re-carpeting works will begin in September and will complete within 18 months. Three companies offered their bids to undertake re-carpeting works and AAI will soon announce the name of the winner. Vishal Industries, a Bangalore-based company, is almost certain to be awarded the contract, Basheer said. The airport authorities have also started taking steps for the next stage of development at the airport by acquiring 137 acres of land. Basheer said the airport authorities should have taken more keenness so as to mitigate the impact of the partial shutdown by choosing a lean season for the same. Meanwhile, the airport authorities announced recently that the runway would remain closed for two hours from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. from July 1 as part of doing initial works in July and August prior to re-carpeting, and the shutdown period will be extended to eight hours from 12 noon to 8 p.m. from September onwards until completion of the re-carpeting work. The airport would function with flights landing and taking off as usual during the rest of the time. All wide-bodied aircraft were banned from the airport from May 1. The airport authorities allowed rerouting of all medium and wide-bodied aircraft to Cochin International Airport in Nedumbassery, 155 km south of Calicut.
