Widebody flights from the UAE and Saudi Arabia could soon land at India’s Calicut International Airport after the country’s civil aviation authority granted approvals toward the resumption of Boing 777 and Airbus A330 flights on the airport’s runway, according to reports.
“At any time, airline companies can begin operation of flights after getting the schedule. Saudia has already got approval from the DGCA after meeting the safety assessment and mitigation measures for the operation of wide-bodied aircraft,” Indian daily The Hindu quoted Calicut International Airport director K. Srinivasa Rao to say.
Calicut International Airport in Kerala is India’s 12 busiest, and Kerala’s third busiest airport. The airport banned widebody operations in 2015 as a result of a court inquiry into the cause of a 2010 Air India Express Boeing 737 crash in nearby Mangaluru in 2010.
Widebody operations could resume with Saudia as early as next month. Emirates is reportedly also in talks with aviation and airport officials, according to the report.
Emirates, in a statement to Arabian Business, said it has no immediate plans to operate flights to Calicut.
“We have no immediate plans to resume services to Calicut at the moment. Emirates will continue to serve Southern India with multiple daily flights to Kochi, Thiruvanthapuram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai,” the spokesperson said.
Arabian Business has reached out to Saudia for comment.
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