A view of the Karipur runway
Karipur: Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has again denied permission for wide-boded aircraft.
Saudi Airlines, who had applied to DGCA for permission to operate a flight from Karipur on 14 Sep received a reply in the negative. The Saudi carrier had planned for arrival and departure of its service on the day.
The airlines had informed authorities that it intended to pick up nurses bound for Saudi in the return flight. Following the aircrash in Karipur on 7 August, DGCA had asked airlines verbally to stop large aircraft, but had not issued any written orders. Nor was any communication to this effect received at the airport.
It was in this background that Saudia wrote to Karipur airport authorities expressing interest to operate the said flight using A330 type aircaft, but the airport directed the carrier to obtain DGCA nod. Based on this Saudia approached DGCA but the request was turned down on Thursday.
There have been criticisms about the DGCA decision to bar aircraft of Code 'E' series in the background of the crash of narrow-bodied plane of Code 'C' series. As per experts, there have not been any finding that the aircrash was caused by deficiency of the airstrip. Nor have the investigating teams been able to detect any technical faults with the airport.