Airlines ignore safety norms, fly bigger aircraft to small airports

Chennai: Flying to several smaller airports in the country may be risky with many airlines found to be operating aircraft bigger than those permitted to land at these hubs.
Airports at Agartala, Port Blair, Dehradun, Ranchi, Raipur, Vizag and Varanasi have fire-fighting infrastructure adequate to handle small 60-seater ATR planes, but several A321s, B737-700s and B737-800s are being operated to some of these airports. "Most of these airports are safe to fly. But to handle a fire accident they don't have enough fire tenders and personnel. This would jeopardise passenger safety," said a pilot.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has categorised airports based on fire-fighting equipment, manpower and other infrastructure available to deal with a fire emergency involving an aircraft. Based on an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommendation, it has also specified the kind of aircraft based on the length and width of the fuselage an airport can handle in case of accidents.
Agartala, Varanasi, Vizag, Raipur, Ranchi and Port Blair are category six airports where airlines are not allowed to fly A320s, A319s, B 737-700s or those that are longer than 28 metres. These airports should handle only ATR-type planes. Their fire-fighting capability needs to be improved for DGCA to upgrade them to the next category.
10/01/11 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2011, Safety Jan 2011